


two roads diverged in a yellow wood

by CountessKlair



Series: Choosing a Path [1]
Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe, The Avengers (Marvel Movies)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Canon-Typical Violence, Canonical Character Death, Cussing, Epic Friendship, Everyone is friends, F/F, F/M, Family Dynamics, Fluff, Friendship saves the world, M/M, Major Character Injury, Multi, NSFW, Picks Up After Avengers (2012), Smut, Team Bonding, Team as Family, Tumblr Tagged as Venger Fam Legacy, everyone gets along
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-05-11
Updated: 2017-06-11
Packaged: 2018-10-30 19:53:06
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 24,778
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10883790
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/CountessKlair/pseuds/CountessKlair
Summary: So maybe Fury isn't quite the asshole that his subordinates, particularly Stark, think he is. He's the goddamn director of a spy organization, he's bound to notice things. Like how the Avengers need someone to pull them together, forge them from a team into a family, to make them figure out how to work together like they actually like each other. Cause if they don't, they're not far from falling off their pedestal and taking the world with them. So he assigns Ava Walker, PsyOps intern from Harvard and sweetheart extraordinaire to be Bruce Banner's lab assistant. Because Fury knows that one ordinary person can't make the difference between two paths, but they can help make the choices clearer.Extreme AU of the MCU (Everyone Gets Along), picking up after Avengers (2012), and focusing mainly on team/family dynamics.





	1. Choosing a Path

**Chapter 1: Choosing a Path** ****  
**Bruce POV** **  
** **09 March, 2013**

We had only been sitting at the Shawarma place for ten minutes when Shield agents descended on us, all grim expressions, black sunglasses, and sharp movements in perfectly tailored suits.

Clint and Natasha didn't seem worried about them, but then again, they had no reason to fear Shield, they were employed by them for God's sake.

Then I noticed the way Clint was holding himself away from the agents and not looking away from his food, a panicked tension gathering in his shoulders, and then I wasn't sure.

A brunette woman in a Shield-issue catsuit stepped into the room, eyebrows angled deeply into her face, eyes focused on Clint, who bared his teeth at her, his eyes growing wide and scared. "Come to take me into custody?"

The woman's eyes narrowed into slits. "No, you idiot, I'm here to collect the six of you and take you to debriefing."

Natasha rolled her head back to look at the woman, "How bad is it gonna be?"

Sighing, the woman dragged a chair over to the table and picked up Natasha's abandoned food. "Well, your cover for everything is blown, or it will be by the ten o'clock news. Governments all over the world are freaking out over the existence of aliens and superheroes, and somehow some hacker somewhere found out about Shield so now our voicemail is full of requests for interviews from reporters. But the real problem is that the Council wanted to nuke NYC, and when Fury said no they sent it anyway, the jackasses. Thanks for getting rid of it by the way, Stark."

Tony, whose eyes were obviously struggling to stay open, hummed, "Don't mention it, Agent. I'll just put it on my bill as a 'Consultant'."

The agent took a bite of Natasha's shawarma, looking between the rest of us. "Thanks for saving the world, guys. Now comes the hard part."

Steve's shoulders straightened just like a soldier's, and he asked, "What's the hard part?"

"Not killing Fury at your debrief. He's got a lot to say to you." The agent looked over at Thor. "I assume you're going to want to take Loki to Asgard?"

Thor nodded seriously. "We tried punishing him by your laws and he escaped. I will take him to our-to _my_ father. His crimes will not go unpunished."

Looking over her shoulder at the ten other agents milling around, the woman called out, "Dismissed."

They immediately exited the restaurant, and when the door closed behind them the woman turned back to Thor. "I can't actually let you take him with you."

She stood up, motioning for him to stand as well, which he did, with no small amount of confusion in his eyes. "I also can't let you overpower me long enough to take him to Asgard and immediately come back for debrief. Because that would be unprofessional of me and definitely unsanctioned. Just so you can understand what I can't do."

Thor nodded seriously at her, his eyes glinting a little. "Of course, Agent-?"

"Hill. Maria Hill," Agent Hill held out a hand, which Thor wrapped his fingers around, "Oh no," She drawled, eyes dull with boredom, "You have overpowered me. I cannot stop you."

Clint snorted into his food, a slight smile stretching across Natasha's face too. Thor touched a hand to Agent Hill's shoulder and murmured a thank you before sweeping out of the restaurant with all the force of the Prince he was.

Agent Hill dropped back down into her chair, leaning her head against Natasha's shoulder. "I need to recover from that battle."

I found myself relaxing a bit, and even though my every instinct still wanted to run, I didn't think I would be able to this time. Shield had found me before, they could again. I definitely wouldn't get very far, and I was getting tired of running. Or maybe I was just really tired.

Or both.

Clint reached out and rummaged around in Thor's abandoned bowl, asking, "How long do you think Thor'll be gone?"

Agent Hill checked her watch. "Hopefully not long. I was supposed to be wheels up with you six fifteen minutes ago."

Steve leaned over the table. "Is there a new threat?"

Agent Hill snorted, "No, thank God. And not to be mean, but even if there was I don't think we'd send you. You guys look beat to shit."

"Are you gonna court-martial me or something?" Clint didn't look at her when he asked, his face blank and his body drawn in tight like his bowstring.

Agent Hill smacked his hand, all noise and no force behind the action, her eyes suddenly bright and fearsome. "No, you idiot. Mind control is out of your hands, so you have done nothing wrong. Your punishment is gonna be a few hundred rounds of work therapy."

Clint moaned loudly, throwing his head back, though his shoulders did not ease. "I hate talking to those shrinks, Maria, they ask the stupidest questions."

"Yeah, well, tough."

Natasha rolled her eyes at the two of them, fully relaxed again.

We sat in silence for a while longer, until Thor strolled back in through the doors, face grave. "Loki will be punished by our- by my father. In a manner fitting of his crimes against Midgardians and Jotuns, as well as against the Asgardian throne."

Tony stood, stretching his back out. "Good. I guess. Look, can we just skip the debrief thing and go home for the day?"

Agent Hill shook her head. "Nope. I'm not getting fired for you, Stark. Come on, we're late."

__________

**Bruce POV**

The Helicarrier, thankfully stable in the air again, still freaked me out a bit. Something about being in something I had almost completely destroyed while thirty thousand feet up in the air made me tense.

Everyone seemed to get more and more uncomfortable, the closer we got to wherever Fury was waiting to debrief us, whatever that meant. The only one at ease seemed to be Agent Hill, who stuck close to Clint and Natasha, the three of them moving somewhat seamlessly together through the halls of the Helicarrier.

Finally, we stopped at a door, where Agent Hill pressed her hand to the scanner, which beeped after a second.

Tony snorted. "Iris scanners are more accurate and quicker. I've told you that five times."

A compartment beside the door popped open and an iris scanner popped up, which Agent Hill leaned into, then immediately away from as the door clicked open. She smirked at Tony, "I know. Now, come on, let's go."

We filed into the room, a large meeting space with a round table, ten chairs, and floor to ceiling windows looking out over the ocean where Director Fury was currently standing, his back to us.

The door closed behind me with an unfairly final sounding Click. Director Fury turned around, expression severe.

"Sit. All of you."

As we complied, he picked up a remote, and after pressing a few buttons showed us a holographic projection of New York City, still smoldering from the battle, a good many of the buildings damaged.

"Early estimates are that there's five hundred million in damage."

My mouth fell open.

Fury clicked another button on the remote, zooming in on the city. "But, that should actually be good for the economy. Insurance company stocks are up astronomically, as are construction and infrastructure. And thankfully only six percent of the buildings hit were residential in some way, and civilian casualties were much lower than we could have expected or hoped. Repairs for the city should take anywhere from four months to two years."

Tony raised his hand, saying, "Stark Industries can try out some new toys to help with that, free of charge."

Fury raised his one eyebrow at him. "Just out of the goodness of your tin heart. What would be really useful, is if the six of you stuck around New York. Yes, you too, Banner I see you." Fury leaned onto the tabletop, the intensity of his gaze living up to his name. "What this city needs are heroes that are gonna stick around, not just destroy half of Manhattan and leave. So here's what y'all need to do. Stark, how many bedrooms you got in that Tower?"

Tony paled a little. "Fury, c'mon-"

"No buts, Stark. You wanted to be a part of this team, now you are. So are all of you. Barton, Romanoff, I'm reassigning you to the Avengers team, permanently as of now. Thor, Rogers, Banner, you are all hereby hired by Shield, assigned level eight clearance, and permanently assigned to the Avengers team. Stark, you are being reassigned to the Avengers team, and no, we are not paying you five million dollars for 'Consultation Services'."

Fury leaned closer to Tony. "What the hell do you need five million dollars for Stark, you're a trillionaire."

Tony shrugged, unaffected. "I just wanted to see you go all blue like that. Reminds me of our first date."

Fury smiled, all teeth. "Funny you should say that. Hill, bring her in."

Agent Hill nodded, leaving the room as Fury continued, "Now that the world is aware of the possibilities of the universe, aliens, superheroes, and dudes with pointy hats conjuring space whales that take out half a city block from a goddamn hole in the sky, the world needs to see a united front from the people that saved them, or they're gonna raise hell and turn on you. So yes, Stark, you're gonna have some new roommates. Six of em."

As everyone tried to get a word in edgewise, Fury silenced us with, "The six of you are gonna live together, eat together, train together, fight together, and in the meantime figure out how to work together because you're probably gonna have to save the world a lot more often now than you used to."

Fury pushed away from the table and clicked the holo projection off, folding his arms behind his back. "In somewhat related news, Phil Coulson has stabilized."

I felt my fingers go cold, my heartbeat speeding up.

It seemed like the entire ship had gone silent as we processed what he had just said. Phil Coulson had stabilized. After being dead.

Everyone else was silent as the grave, until Tony asked, his voice icy and brittle, "What do you mean, stabilized?"

Steve's hands were shaking. "You told us he died."

Fury looked him in the eyes, calm as could be. "He was. Technically. His heart stopped beating, lungs stopped working, his brain lost some oxygen, the whole nine yards. But, thanks to the work of some very skilled doctors, he pulled through. They are cautiously optimistic about his chances."

Tony hissed, seething, "You lied to us!"

"I told you what you needed to hear. That's all." Fury's eyes darted to Natasha and Clint, who weren't looking at him anymore, both of them staring at their hands, and I remembered that Tony had mentioned Phil was their handler, and that meant that of all of us, they had known Phil the best. I hadn't really gotten to know him, so the news hadn't hit me very hard, but it was obviously someone who Tony, who kept everyone at arm's length, had been fond of, and that had been enough to make me mourn him.

Tony's eyes burned with anger, and I could tell he was considering refusing Fury demands.

I honestly didn't know what Tony was gonna do until he looked over at me, that anger fading a bit, and then he looked over at Steve, who stared back, some message passing between the two of them that I couldn't understand.

Finally, Tony turned back to Fury, plastering a fake smile on his face. "Great news. Wonderful. Can we go now?"

Agent Hill came back into the room, followed by another Shield agent, a plump, curvy blonde whose eyes widened in something similar to shock when she saw us.

Fury pointed at her. "Avengers, meet Agent Ava Walker. She'll be joining you at Stark Tower."

Agent Walker balked. "I-I will? Sir?"

Fury nodded. "You requested to be paired with a Chemist or an Engineer next, to help 'round out your skill set' for Harvard since you finished your Psy-Ops and Bomb Disposal training. You're being assigned to Dr. Banner. Dr. Banner, meet Agent Walker, your new lab assistant."

I tried to protest, "Really, Director, I don't-"

Fury held up a hand. "You're not gonna get anything done with just you and Tony together, you'll end up dying of starvation or something equally dumb. Agent Walker will assist you both in the lab as well as get your ass out of the lab often enough that you don't die. Stark, she's my agent, so-"

Tony held up his hands. "I'll play nice, I promise."

Agent Walker looked distinctly uncomfortable. "Director, sir, if I may, not that I'm not grateful because it would, of course, be an honor to work with Dr. Banner and Dr. Stark," Tony snorted at the title as she continued, "But I really don't want-"

"You will _not_ be the problem here, Agent Walker, I can promise you that, if you wanna keep your internship. Stark, meet your sixth roommate and your new live-in nanny."

Agent Walker and Tony both protested at that, but Fury just shook his head. "I don't give a damn if you don't like it, any of you. Agent Walker, Shield is paying for your classes and giving you a pretty decent salary, and if I may say so, working with Stark and Banner will look very good on a resume and you just might learn something from two of the smartest men in the world while you're at it. You're going. Stark, you have proved that you can't be trusted with your own life, so here. A live-in nanny."

Agent Walker fell silent, her face unreadable.

In a slightly quieter voice, Fury announced, "Two more things. Stark, I understand you offered a job to Dr. Foster and her assistant Miss Lewis."

Tony nodded haltingly, a strain to his voice when he said, "Can't let us have all the fun."

Thor perked up. "Jane is coming to New York?"

Tony snorted. "Don't get so excited, pal, she's probably gonna be mad you came all the way to Earth and haven't called yet. You've got some explaining to do."

That didn't seem to phase Thor, whose smile only widened, the action brightening the room somewhat.

"Nevertheless," Fury announced, "I want you all to be aware that neither of them should be privy to sensitive information. Is that clear?"

Everyone around the table gave some form of affirmation.

Fury finished, "Finally, you all have to complete five weeks of work therapy by the end of the year."

Thor asked, "What is work therapy?"

Fury pointed at Agent Walker. "She's the psych expert, ask her. You'll have a lot to talk about with her."

He waited a few moments, and when none of us said anything, he waved a hand at us. "All right then. Agent Walker, please collect your belongings and move them to the flight deck in an hour. You'll be flown out to Stark Tower to move in ASAP. Dismissed."

She saluted sharply. "Yes, sir."

Agent Hill and Director Fury touched their hands to their ears, frowning. They started moving towards the door, Fury calling out over his shoulder, "Also, if you could all help out some with the rebuilding effort, that'd be great."

The door closed behind them.

Everyone was silent for a moment, and Tony said, loudly, emphatically, "Well, fuck."

Agent Walker pushed her bangs back, agreeing, "Fuck."

Steve asked, "What exactly is Psy-Ops?"

Natasha and Agent Walker answered at the same time, "Psychological Operations."

Agent Walker finished, "Psy-Ops is a division that strategizes missions and performs threat assessments, as well as planning and executing psychological warfare tactics on certain enemies. Making the enemy believe there are a thousand men when we have ten, that sort of thing."

Tony snorted. "Don't be so modest, Miss Walker. Psy-Ops is the scariest fucking war tactic on the planet," Tony leaned towards me, but spoke to everyone else as well, "She could tell us what she does but then she'd have to kill us. Which is why it'll be so fun to have you at the Tower."

She winced at us, "I'm really sorry, I didn't know he was gonna do that. Dr. Stark, I really don't expect you to, um, have me as an 'in-house nanny', mainly because I could never afford to live in a Stark building."

Tony smiled, a little less threatening and fake than before. "No choice, Agent. Psy-Ops or not, Fury scares me more than you do, so you're stuck with us. Don't worry, we'll set you up somewhere nice in the tower. Apparently, I'm running a bed and breakfast. And please, just call me Tony."

She smiled, just a little, her body relaxing slightly. "Ok. Um. Sure."

She turned to me. "Dr. Banner, is there anything I can get for you?"

I was unsure why she was addressing me until I remembered that she was supposed to be my personal assistant as well as our 'in-house nanny'.

Oh goody.

I shook my head awkwardly, suddenly all too aware of that low thrum running through my body that was the signal for 'too much interaction today'. I needed to sit down somewhere by myself and be alone for a while. Maybe for a week.

Agent Walker nodded at me. "Ok then. I will, um, be at Stark Tower this afternoon."

Natasha drawled, "We'll look forward to seeing you there, I'm sure."

Agent Walker froze in place, her eyes focused on Natasha for a second. After a moment, Agent Walker smiled uncertainly and turned on her heel. She practically ran out the door, obviously uncomfortable.

Clint voiced, "I think she's kinda cute. Could be fun to hang around."

Natasha stood, stretching her arms. "She scares easy, for a Psy-Ops intern."

Steve stood as well, asking, "How are we getting back to New York, exactly?"

__________

**Ava POV**

I had collected my civvy clothes, my books, my laptop, and the few 'personal miscellaneous' items I'd been allowed to bring onto the Helicarrier in the span of fifteen minutes. I spent the next ten minutes freaking the fuck out.

Yes, working with Dr. Bruce Banner and _Tony fucking Stark_ and possibly Dr. Jane Foster would be amazing, incredible, a once in a lifetime opportunity.

Yes, _obviously_ , it would look good on my resume.

Yes, I would get amazing experience, no doubt, from working with them.

No, I didn't want to do it.

Good things did not come from mere mortals who played with Gods, it was the one big lesson that had come from my Greek Mythology 247 class.

"I just can't get over it. You, Ava Walker, are going to complete the White Bread committee." Angi dodged the pillow I threw at her after her joke, and she only grinned wider as I glared at her.

She laughed, "You do know that that glare of yours stopped working on me a little before we broke up and became best friends." She tossed the pillow back to me, amending, "Well, what passes for best friends when you work for a super-secret spy organization."

Angi, an Agent on loan from the Mumbai Institute of Bomb Disposal and Retrieval in India, had been stationed on the Helicarrier around the same time I had two years ago, and we had tackled Bomb Squad training together and we had hit off. We went out for a year, even after I had transferred to Psy-Ops, which actually was shorter than it sounded when you considered that every other week one or the other of us was sent away on a mission with no outside contact for five to ten days. It had been pretty fun, but then I noticed we acted more like comfortable best friends than girlfriends and we broke up but remained as close as ever.

I much preferred to hang out with Bomb Squad than with the Psy-Ops Agents, mainly because the Psy-Ops Agents freaked me the fuck out.

But even as much as Psy-Ops Agents freaked me out, they did not match the extent that Agent Romanoff did, though that was partly because she was just so pretty, so tiny and fragile looking, with a kill count I could practically see on her forehead and dear God, it was high. I'd seen the kinds of things she was capable of, and they were terrifying.

And now I was gonna live with her.

Yay.

Angi was no help to my packing, she just leaned back against the wall and watched, amused. "I haven't seen you this tense since your first Evaluation from Director Fury."

I zipped up my suitcase. "This whole thing is some great big test he's invented, both for me and for them, and I just don't know what'll happen if I-well that's not true, I know what'll happen, I just don't want to think about getting crushed like a bug-"

Angi pushed off the wall, grabbing me by the shoulders. "Ava. Breathe."

I rolled my eyes. "I am, dummy."

Angi smiled. "I think it's time you had an honest conversation with Mirror Ava."

She turned me around towards the mirror on the wall and I groaned loudly. "I hate this game, Angi, why-"

"You know very well why you have to play, Ava," She narrowed her eyes playfully at me in the mirror, "Besides, you only hate this game when you have to do it, you loved coming up with it."

The 'game' went like this; the night before Angi's first time in the field, she was so freaked out and worried about every horrible possibility that I had made up a Psy-Op tactic to make her feel better. I had her stand in front of a mirror and lost every one of her fears and tell herself that none of them would happen, and promise herself that she'd be fine. It wasn't based on any real science or data, but she had felt better.

She came home from that mission with a broken leg and missing a fingernail, but she was alive.

Angi poked my shoulder. "C'mon, Blondie. I know it's not 'science-y' enough for you, but what have you got to lose?"

I looked in the mirror, thinking I had nothing to lose. I took a deep breath, and watched myself intently as I promised, "This is fine. You're gonna be fine. You're not gonna get crushed like a bug. Or killed. Or fired. Well, actually you're probably gonna be fired, but you're gonna be fine."

No, I did not want to do this.

Yes, I was gonna do it anyway.

Angi frowned, "Why are you gonna get fired?"

Someone knocked on my door, and I called out, "Come in!"

Director Fury stepped in, scary trenchcoat, eye patch and all, closing the door behind him with a soft click.

"Agent Walker."

I saluted him. "Director."

Angi followed suit, snapping to attention and saluting him with a formal, "Director."

Director Fury asked, "Agent Mumaht, would you excuse Agent Walker and I?"

Angi did not hesitate. "Of course, Director."

She left the room, her gait even, her body relaxed and posture perfect, the image of a Shield Agent, but I knew that twitch of her left hand meant she decidedly did _not_ want to go.

The door closed behind her, and I readied myself for whatever Director Fury had to say.

He narrowed his eye at me. "I suppose by now you've worked out why I assigned you to the Avengers."

I sighed, turning back to my bags and fussing with them. "Obviously, sir, you intend to use me as an in-house spy. For the purpose of discovering weaknesses, strengths, all personality traits, their uses in battle, and perhaps most importantly, to you, sir, how to take them down if need be."

Director Fury confirmed, "You weren't top of your classes at Harvard and top of your class at Shield Academy for nothing, were you, Agent Walker?"

"No, sir, I wasn't." I paused, taking a moment to steady myself. "But I really don't think you saw this coming."

I turned around, planting my feet and squaring my shoulders. "I am _not_ going to spy on them for you. I flat out refuse. I am a Psy-Ops agent, I am not a spy. I strategize, I build teams, I break down enemy fortresses with nothing but rumors, I make ten men seem like a thousand, I do _not_ spy, and I will especially not spy on the motherfucking Avengers."

I waited a moment.

"Sir. Pardon my language."

Director Fury leaned back against the door. "Why not? You might be good at it."

I arched an eyebrow. "Like everything I set my mind to, I would be amazing at it, given enough time and practice, but I wouldn't get that opportunity. Agents Romanoff and Barton can smell a spy five miles away, and I really don't want to get on their bad side. But more to the point, I refuse to plant a seed of doubt in the Avengers in the hearts of Shield Agents. If we don't trust them, we might as well just shut up shop right now."

Fury's eye sharpened on me, my defiance prompting him to ask, "Why?"

"Because, sir, everything at this point rests on a knife's edge. The citizens of New York, of America, of _Earth,_  need to know that they can trust the Avengers, no matter what. And that starts with Shield. If the support system that the Avengers rely on doesn't trust them, then they're doomed." I waited a moment before finishing, "And after they go, so does everyone else."

Director Fury didn't reply for a moment, studying me as intently. Then, "And if I said I'd fire you, put in a certain few words to your professors back at Harvard if you still refused?"

I faced him directly, making every facet of my body read confidence as I promised, "My answer would still be no. After all, as I'm sure you know, any person with my skills can find a job, degree or no degree."

Director Fury smiled. "World would be a better place if people with your kind of convictions ran it, Agent Walker." He shoved off of the wall, "Alright. Keep your convictions, and your internship. Just hope that those convictions don't let you down one of these days, Agent Walker."

With that, he left.

Like a crashing wave, the adrenaline release hit me.

I rubbed the skin on the inside of my wrist with my thumb, shaking violently with adrenaline release and relief. "Ooohhh, shit. Wow. Oh my god. Ok. Fuck. That happened. You almost lost your job, most of your future. For morals. Wow. Ok. Cool."

I raked my hands through my hair, taking a deep breath. "Ok. That happened. And if you don't move your ass, Walker, you're gonna miss your flight."

__________

**Ava POV**

I had only stayed at the Tower long enough to throw my stuff behind the door Dr. Stark had pointed out and had promptly bolted for Harlem.

I didn't relax at all until I saw the rusted sign set into the wall, ' _Sister Margaret's Home for Wayward Souls_ '.

I walked in through the doors and waved at a few of the patrons of the hilariously misnamed bar. Sister Margaret's' had been founded by my mother's squad mate, Dante Johnson, who had turned into a low-level crime vigilante after leaving the Marine Corps, and his patrons performed similar acts, though usually, they were in it for some kind of incentive. Johnson beat up abusers, muggers, street harassers, all types of lowlifes. Johnson was currently serving five to ten for manslaughter, his 'victim' being the forty-year-old rapist of a sixteen-year-old.

Johnson, or 'Reddy Freddy' as his old squad called him (because of his vibrant red hair and because, well, it rhymed), had idolized my mother as both his commanding officer and his friend, and her death had hit him, and the rest of the five man squad, hard. He and the others from the squad had served the remainder of their tour and found their way to Harlem, where they set up the bar.

'They' being Johnson, my mother's XO and the spitting image of a loud and angry redhead; Leroy 'Bluebird' Rieker, the sniper of the squad who noticed the smallest of details but had no idea how to interpret social interactions or when to shut up and say nothing about what he noticed and who still video chatted with me to do Sabbath together when we could; Harvey 'Cannon' Sanchez, who could make a weapon out of anything and who was so nicknamed because despite his smaller stature his first hit you like a cannon blast but was also the moral compass of the group as Harvey was possibly the sweetest man alive, but even so he took absolutely no shit from anyone about his Mexican heritage; and Gabe 'St. John' Keller, who despite being the squad doctor with the Columbia medical degree had taught me hand-to-hand combat he'd learned growing up in inner-city Chicago, definitely the most protective of them all, and who I worried about the most, as no cop was out to protect a black man these days. As somewhat low-level crime vigilantes, my mother's old squadmates did the kind of jobs for people that legally I knew nothing about, that took them farther away from Harlem each time and usually pissed off some powerful person or another, but they certainly helped a lot of people who needed it. I knew if they ever got caught, the ones in the most danger from police were definitely Harvey as a Latino, and Gabe as a black man. And Rieker had things to worry about too, as a Jewish man, and with Johnson in jail, I often was really, really glad that I had taken the internship at Shield and had the particular level of clearance that it offered me. Not that I ever dared to fool around with evidence in an investigation, federal or otherwise, foreign or otherwise, meaning that a certain four individuals escaped pursual of federal forces.

That would be an abuse of my position.

The four of them were all I had left, family wise. After my mother died in combat when I was twelve, the four of them had become like family to me and my Dad, even more so than they had been before, and had taken a sort of rotation in helping raise me while my Dad's job as a Private Investigator took him further and further away after my mother died. I had split my time between Harlem at Sister Margaret's and the middle of nowhere Missouri at my parent's house growing up. The four of them were there for every major milestone after my mom died, and after Dad died just two weeks before my eighteenth birthday, they were there for that too. They had suggested taking some time to process, but I had needed a distraction, so I had, as planned, gone off to Harvard, which was close enough to them if something went wrong or if I missed them too much, which I often did.

After my twenty-first birthday, Director Fury contacted me and offered me an internship, which I took, for various reasons. That was two years ago now, but Johnson and the others still kept in contact with me while doing whatever it was that they were doing that I legally knew nothing about via the bartender at Sister Margaret's, Weasel.

The bar was my favorite place in the world, ever. It smelled like stale beer, male body odor, and Weasel's aftershave, but it also smelled like good, honest deep fried food, campfire smoke and leather, just like Johnson.

I sat down at the far side of the bar, waiting for Weasel to finish yelling at someone, when a clammy hand landed on the small of my back, fingers creeping around the edge of my waist.

"Now what is a pretty girl like you doing in a bar like this?"

I wrinkled my nose at the rotten smell of his whiskey breath. "Stop touching me and walk away before I hurt you."

Weasel whipped around, eyes narrowed, but he stopped short when I glared at him.

I turned to look at the man behind me, unsprised to find the creepy man to be just another fifty-six-year-old biker with mommy issues and a Napoleon complex that reared its ugly head after drinking too much, which he clearly had. He swayed into my space, baring his teeth at me, "Come on now, don't be like that. Let's just skip the part where you pretend you don't want this and go right to the happy ending."

I did not lean away, making my voice as clear as possible when I repeated, "Stop touching me and walk away before I hurt you."

His face twisted and he clamped his hands around my wrists painfully hard. "Don't be such a bitch-"

I kneed him as hard as I could in the groin, into the flesh and upward. He fell like a rock, and Weasel whistled at one of the nearby mercs.

"Hey, get this joker out of here, will ya?" As the merc tossed the three hundred pound biker out the door, Weasel leaned over the counter to grin at me. "Nice work, Goldilocks."

I leaned forward and kissed his cheek. "Thanks, I think so too."

"Why is it that every time we come in here, you're kicking someone's ass?"

I turned around in shock to see Harvey and Gabe and Rieker standing behind me.

I shrieked in surprise and leaped at them, all three of them catching me in their arms and hugging me as close as an eight armed hug would allow.

Rieker called out to Weasel, "Hey, a round of beers for the boys and I, huh? And maybe don't put it on our tab since Reddy isn't here to say shit about it."

Weasel shook his head. "No can do, Bluebird, the man's my boss and I don't want to get fired or killed, even with him in the clink."

I pulled the three of them over to the bar as Weasel rummaged around at the end of the bar, a smile stretching so wide on my face it probably looked scary. "What are you guys doing here, I thought you were in the Himalayas or something?!"

Gabe answered, "Well we were until the world went to shit and fucking aliens descended on New York City."

Harvey wrapped an arm back around me and squeezed a bit. "We wanted to check up on you and the bar, though to be honest, we were more worried about you."

I planted a kiss on his cheek. "Aw, thanks, Harvey."

Rieker and Gabe pouted loudly until I kissed their cheeks too, an ease settling into my chest again.

Weasel came back holding four beers, a basket of fries, and a burger, rolling his eyes, "Andy threw a fit about it but I got you your regular order. Cheeseburger, lettuce, tomato, ketchup, and three onion rings on top with a side order of fries. A heart attack in a basket."

I winked at him. "I box and my doctor says I'm perfectly healthy."

Unable to wait any longer, all four of them, as well as a good number of other patrons pretending not to be deeply invested in our conversation leaned in as Weasel asked, "What can you tell us about those motherfucking aliens?"

I snorted. "Legally, nothing. Not a damn thing."

Rieker hummed. "Ok, so legality is out. What about illegally?"

I grinned. "I could tell you a lot. What do you guys wanna know?"

An hour later, everyone at the bar was crammed around the counter, listening.

Gabe put his handsome head in his hands. "Aliens. Motherfucking _aliens_."

Rieker stole one of my fries. "Why'd it have to be Norse mythology that came true, why not Egyptian or Chinese or Hindi or-"

"Fuck, guys, Captain Fucking America is still alive and kicking! That rat bastard cheated death!" Harvey grinned at me. "You think you can pull some strings and have us meet him now that you're gonna be roommates?"

I groaned loudly, downing the rest of my beer. "Don't remind me. I'm still freaking out about it. A live-in nanny to Tony Stark? Before Pepper Potts, none of his assistants lasted a _week_."

Weasel shrugged. "Avenger or not, he gives you any trouble, you call in one of your favors and the boys'll kill him."

There was a chorus of agreement, but I shook my head. "I can't lose my scholarship, and I don't think he'll be _that_ kind of trouble. Thanks anyway."

The crowd dispersed, still chattering, and Gabe sighed, looking over at me. "We were worried about you, Aves."

I nodded. "I know."

Johnson, Gabe, Rieker, Harvey, and even Weasel had been very vocally against me taking the job offer from Shield, but Director Fury had promised me the opportunity to learn under the best of the best, and finish my triple major in Psychology, Chemistry, and Mechanical Engineering in half the time. And it was the right decision, of course, because now I was three semesters away from my degree and I got to work with Tony fucking Stark of all people, but that didn't mean I was altogether happy with the job. Working for a super secret spy organization made you look over both shoulders at all times, sleep with both eyes open and put triple locks on all doors and windows, that sort of thing. Which wasn't super fun.

It also meant that on occasion you got woken up at two a.m. by two men falling through your window, one of which was one of your uncle figures attacking your would-be stalker, while the would-be stalker was actually just a Shield Agent assigned to monitor your activities for 'security reasons'.

Which was never a fun conversation to have with anyone, boss, fellow agent, or uncle figure.

Harvey turned to face me, frowning seriously. "Look, Aves, I know you love what you do, and I know that your mom and dad would be proud of you, God rest their souls, but Johnson and us think you should consider getting out. This spy shit isn't for everyone, and we don't want you to regret being a part of Shield when you look back at your life."

"I'm not a spy."

All three men turned to look at me, unimpressed.

Rieker started, "Aves-"

I hooked my arm through his, leaning against his shoulder. "I'll think about it, I promise, but I think I'll just see where this goes for a little while."

Rieker pressed a quick kiss to the side of my head. "Ok. Sure thing, kiddo."

Gabe asked, "When'd you say Johnny's getting out of the clink? He's already gonna be pissed he was locked up for this whole mess, and Rieker's got that look in his eyes like more troubles not far behind."

I hummed in agreement, "Well technically he's supposed to be serving another two years at least, but he might get out on good behavior in one."

Rieker snorted. "Trust Reddy to get thrown in jail for doing a good deed."

Harvey agreed, smiling, "That man could start a fight in an empty house."

I ignored the way Gabe held his hands while they talked about Johnson, the ache of longing in the set of his shoulders, the way his eyes watched the small collection of pictures behind the bar counter, watching one in particular of Johnson wiping down the counter, smiling softly at the person behind the camera, who, since I had been there when the picture was taken, I knew to be Gabe.

Gabe and Johnson had been in love since I was in diapers, and had done nothing about it. I was sure everyone in the whole goddamn bar knew about it. We were all waiting for whatever it took to get them together, though Harvey and I thought it might take some serious Psy-Ops to do it at this point.

Rieker checked his watch. "Shit. We got to go, we have to get back to the Himalayas by tomorrow night."

The three of them hugged me goodbye and slapped Weasel on the back, and I promised to keep Weasel, and by extension them, updated.

After they left Weasel handed me another beer, grimacing. "You think that boss of yours is gonna come by the bar anytime soon? Because if so, I'm gonna need about a week's notice to get this place up to code."

I shook my head. "I doubt he'll make any kind of official visit, though he might come in here to drink."

"Oh don't tell me you went and got a boyfriend, I was holding out to be your hero, baby."

I laughed as Wade Wilson slung himself beside me at the bar, grinning cheekily at me.

Wade was, essentially, an asshole, but for all intents and purposes, he was our asshole.

Rieker had stayed in the Marines for two more tours after Gabe, Harvey, and Johnson left and had been assigned to train a sniper squad out in New Mexico, one of whom had been Wade. Rieker and Wade had butted heads and had been best friends, they had been a perfect duo for each other. When Rieker finally left the Corps, Wade's new CO had not been fond of Wade's way of doing his job and had assigned him a dishonorable discharge. Johnson gave Wade a place to land on his feet with Sister Margaret's, and over the last ten years, I had gotten to know him fairly well.

I had also somewhat helped him with some advice on his girlfriend Vanessa this past winter, who had now lasted longer than most of his shoes.

I motioned to the doors of the bar. "You just missed the boys, they were in here for a couple hours with me. Where were you?"

Wade shrugged. "Making sure that the girlfriend is safe and sound, that our place was still standing after the whole alien invasion thing, the usual."

Wade settled in next to me, propping his head up on one hand as he grinned widely at me. "Hey. So the world is kind of falling apart, I don't know if you noticed."

I rolled my eyes playfully. "It is not falling apart, dumbass. Can't you handle one little alien invasion? I thought you loved Independence Day."

"Well it's not the Fourth of July for one thing, and for another, I am not Will Smith." Wade grinned winningly at Weasel. "Two shots for the war hero."

"You got a Dishonorable Discharge."

"Semantics."

I pushed my mostly full beer at him. "Here, drink that. I've got to head back to my new job."

Wade mock-frowned at me. "I thought we both agreed that stripping wasn't a good career path for you. I know you love and admire Vanessa, and besides the fact that you are somewhat obsessed with my girlfriend being a little weird it's actually kind of cool, but she even told you stripping is not for you."

I smacked him. "I was drunk, you idiot. I mean that my boss reassigned me to be Tony Stark's live-in nanny." Wade grinned lewdly at me and I hit him again. "No, not like that, you sick fuck."

Wade laughed. "You're gonna have to babysit a superhero? Man, I would sell my kidneys to have a front seat row to that show."

I hopped down from the bar. "Well, I would love for you to share in my misery, but you can't. I don't want to lose my job."

Wade drank half of what was left of my beer. "Oh well. I suppose I'll just have to live with the tales of your adventures."

I waved. "Don't die out there on the street, Wilson. See you guys later."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For a look at Ava's outfit for this and other chapters, as well as other stuff concerning this series, including the character backstories of my Original Characters, check me out on Tumblr as countessklair and click the tag Venger Fam Legacy link in the sidebar. Search my Tumblr for the tag VFL CAS to find only the Character Aesthetic Sheets, some including backstories.


	2. I Still Believe in Heroes: Steve Rogers

**Chapter 2: I Still Believe in Heroes: Steve Rogers** ****  
**Steve POV** **  
** **30 April, 2013**

I shoved the door to the Tower's terrace open, storming through it and thoroughly ignoring the calls of my teammates behind me.

I needed a few minutes alone to cool off.

Ever since the Battle of New York, Tony had insisted on all of us eating together, training together, doing culture immersion together, living together, practically doing everything together. I knew it wasn't just on Fury's orders, that it was an honest attempt to try and foster camaraderie between us, hopefully comradery that wasn't solely based off of surviving an alien invasion. It wasn't bad, necessarily, and I found I  did enjoy their company, as well as spending time with the other people living in the Tower. 

Jane, Darcy, and Pepper were amazing women that I couldn't help but admire, even if I didn't understand what Darcy or Jane were saying most of the time, because Jane used a lot scientific jargon that made zero sense, and when Darcy was bored she could have whole conversations with herself about modern pop culture that I couldn't follow if my life depended on it.

Ava Walker was something of a contradiction. Psy-Ops specialist or not, just being around her made it feel like summer, something that everyone found very refreshing. Especially since our work lives could get a little...draining. Ava had only been working for Bruce for a month, but in that time she'd managed to befriend everyone in the Tower, including Jarvis and even Natasha, who I was still a little terrified of and of all the people in the Tower she was definitely the hardest to get close to. But Ava wasn't exactly hard to get along with.

When she had first been assigned to Bruce, I had thought she would just be Fury's way of spying on all of us; after a week, though, we got something of an all clear from Natasha. And beyond that, we were just plain tired. We were tired of being constantly on guard in our own home, of watching what we said and did and the way we moved around her, and Ava was good to be around. She didn't have to feel the weight of the world on her shoulders, and she didn’t treat us like we were anything but human. Which, in our current, fucked up state, we were grateful for.

Unsurprisingly, the whole past month had been something of a catastrophe. The whole team was incredibly on edge, as Tony was dealing with the psychological consequences of nearly dying, Bruce was trying to get used to having healthy social interactions again and was struggling with the Other Guy, I was still dealing with being a man in the wrong time period as well as leading a team of people I knew little about, Thor was occasionally a selfish and obnoxious dick when Jane or Darcy weren't around to literally knock some sense into him, and Natasha and Clint were dealing with getting the residuals of Loki's control out of Clint's head. Every one of us could feel everyone else's emotional turmoil, and it just served to make us all the more aggravated. 

That was part of the reason I was finding the close quarters stifling.

The other part of the reason was Tony. Specifically, Tony's constantly cracking jokes about my age and never missing a single opportunity to call me 'Old Man' or 'Grandpa'; it was enough to send me into an inexplicable bout of anger.

Which is the exact interaction I had just had with Tony not two minutes ago. We had barely stumbled off of the elevator, coming home from a mission, before Tony caught me wincing as Thor clapped me on my shoulder a little too hard. 

I'd torn a ligament on this mission, where we'd been sent after a cluster of Chitauri that had somehow fled from New York during the battle and had been wreaking havoc in the Canadian wilderness. We'd spent a week looking for those bastards, and now they were gone and we were all back at the Tower, not even properly bandaged, Bruce the only one in civilian clothes, and Tony just had to open his goddamn mouth. 

"You need a cane there, Grandpa?"

I'd simply turned on my heel, clenching my fists as I walked away.

Which was how I found myself out on the balcony of the Tower, leaning against the railing and staring out into the city that had changed so much, trying to breathe calmly. 

I just wanted...

Well.

I couldn't have what I really wanted. 

But if Tony and Thor could just get their heads out of their asses for ten minutes, and if Clint could just stop blaming himself for what he did while Loki was literally mind-controlling him, and if Bruce would just stop apologizing for every little thing and acting like he wasn't welcome among us, and if Natasha would let her freaking guard down around us even just for a minute, and if I could just stop feeling like I was drowning in a sea of the unfamiliar, that might be a start.

I heard the door behind me slide open and someone start walking towards me.

I dropped my head to rest on my forearms, calling out, "Not now, Tony, please."

Behind me, I heard Ava reply, "I'm not Tony. I am, however, concerned."

I lifted my head when she stopped beside me, mimicking my pose. The sun was just beginning to set over the city, the light playing warm colors across her face.

A part of me warned that opening up to her, even a little bit, would have its costs. I didn’t have the best track record with people I’d gotten close to, and Ava didn’t have any sort of superpower to protect her from the trail of death that followed me around. The rest of me didn't care about the consequences, as much as I really really should have. I had to talk to someone, or I was going to explode, and that’s what Ava was here for. Kind of. 

I turned to face her more directly, and scrubbed a hand down my face.

She just stood patiently, not pressing or prompting, letting me come about it in my own time if I so chose.

Finally, I said, "Look, Ava, you know what it is we do. And I'm sure you've read my file, so you know that this..."

I gestured to encompass everything around us. "This is not what I thought my life would turn out like. I thought I'd die in the war, and instead, I'm shoved into another one. Except this time the rules are just so completely  _ backwards _ .”

She tilted her head, asking, "How so?"

The echo of old memories hung in my head, seven men in a dimly lit bar laughing over beer, building breaking under fire, and the sheer force of a glacier. 

I pushed it away and answered Ava’s question. "Before I went under, before I even joined the war, I got rejected from the Army five times. And despite what the 'Captain America Newsreels' said about me, back then it wasn't about trying to fight to win glory or power or territory, at least it didn't seem like it. It seemed like we were fighting to protect people, even if it wasn't our own people. Hell, two of the Howling Commandos weren't Americans, one didn't even speak English. It wasn't about only protecting our own citizens and beliefs, it was about protecting everyone's right to have a life free from men who want to play God.” I sighed and rubbed the back of my neck. “Or that's what it was about for me. That's why I kept trying to get in, why I jumped when Dr. Erskine offered me a chance. But then, you know, today..."

Ava supplied, "It seems like the battles you're being asked to fight are for different reasons than you're being told?"

I nodded, thinking about our meeting with Nick Fury. I paused before asking, "I don’t wanna make you betray anyone’s confidence, so you don’t have to answer, but. Have you talked to any of the others about stuff like this?"

She made a face that I didn't understand before saying, "Suffice to say that you're not the only one having doubts about what the higher ups are telling you. An Avenger who shall remain nameless has developed trust issues after the whole, 'By the way, Phil's actually alive thanks to the lots of talented doctors I, Nick Fury, have working for me' thing."

She grinned a little as I rolled my eyes, and she remarked, "That man lost some respect from everyone with that move.” Her smiled faded, some thought crossing her mind as she said, “But I will say that I’ve seen my fair share of the dark side of warfare.” She scoffed a little at my surprised expression. “Steve, honestly, I’m Psy-Ops, what did you expect?”

I shrugged. “I’m not really sure, you just don’t seem like you’ve seen much of anything”

She raised both eyebrows at me and I flushed deeply. “I don’t mean that in a bad way, I just--I mean-”

“You’re lucky I can tell you didn’t mean that in a derogatory way, Rogers.” She pushed gently at my arm and I relaxed as she continued, “Point is, I’ve seen some things working with Shield, things that have enlightened certain parts of how the world works. And there's a lot of people in charge of the world who I wouldn’t trust to have anyone’s back.”

She faced me directly, completely serious as she insisted, “Nicholas Fury is not one of those people. Yes, he’s a spy, he’s the spy’s spy, and he’s incredibly scary because of it sometimes, but he’s also the man who would do anything he could to save the lives of civilians.” Something dark passed over her face. “That’s something rare in a commander.”

She turned away, and I frowned down at my hands. I knew Fury wasn’t all bad, and honestly he’d never struck me as someone I couldn’t trust, but to so blatantly use us like that…

Ava sighed. “I’m not saying you should be his biggest fan, but just...keep in mind he’d never choose to use or abuse any of you.”

I nodded, not looking at her. She started to turn away before perking up. “Hey that reminds me, while you guys were out saving the world this week, Phil video called and scared the shit out of Darcy and I.”

“How did he scare you?”

She blushed a little. “Darcy and I may or may not have been competing to see who could do the best Thor impression and so we didn’t hear Jarvis when he announced Phil’s call. He ended up picking Darcy for best impression, which is fair, she has known Thor longer. Phil's a nice guy, very deadpan. He's kind of adorable."

I bit my lower lip on the smile that threatened. "He say anything else?"

"He said he's gonna be doing a lot of Physical Therapy and bedrest for the next two months, and then he said he's gonna take a long vacation." Ava paused, smiling, "And then he said that if any of you try to make him shorten it he's gonna make it longer out of spite." 

I grinned, feeling much better than I had before she'd come out to talk to me.

We stood there in a comfortable silence for a while, until she asked, "Are you still feeling weird about the whole, 'I'm an Avenger now' thing?"

I sighed. "Sort of, I just...I just don't think I'm cut out for this kind of fighting, where nothing's black or white anymore, it's all shades of gray."

Ava smiled wryly, "I can understand that. In World War Two, you were fighting a straightforward battle, destroy Hydra."

She looked out over the horizon, pulling her body closer into herself as she finished, "The Hydras of the world today are nothing straightforward. Especially in our line of work."

I studied the bruising pattern on my hands, watching my fingers shake as I whispered, "I don't know if I can do this. There just so much that's different, and right now everything's all kinds of screwed up."

Ava hummed. "Oh, I know. Every single one of you needs some kind of therapy."

She paused, studying me for a moment, "Steve, just because things suck right now doesn't mean they won't get better. You're a part of something that's in a position to do a whole lot of good, and I'm not just talking about wars. This team needs you, and you need them. You may not have known each other long, but you fought alongside each other, for the same cause. You had each other's backs at a very crucial point. You can't give up on us, because none of us are gonna give up on you."

I leaned my head down on my forearms, breathing deeply, because Ava was right. Right now I needed to be told that what I had in front of me was worth fighting for.

Because it was. I still wanted to be back in 1943, with Bucky and Peggy and the Commandos and even the Colonel, but that didn't mean that being here, in New York in 2013, was such a terrible place to be, even if it did feel like that.

After a moment, when I straightened up, Ava suggested casually, "Think about what I said the other day, about therapy. I've been covering for you and Clint with Fury, and you may think it sounds stupid, but mental health is no joke, and therapy could help you."

I opened my mouth and promptly bit back the scathing rejection I had prepared. I thought about the nights spent wide awake, staring at a ceiling and feeling so disconnected from reality I couldn't breathe. Stiltedly, I nodded, making no promises, and she turned back to the setting sun. 

After a minute of silence, she started laughing, pointing at a nearby building which held an oversized, professional looking banner proclaiming, 'I Believe In The Avengers', while another banner underneath of it, that by comparison looked homemade, read in a messier print, 'Stark Get Rid Of The Cosplayers'.

I smiled, "I kinda agree. I mean, we could hardly get out of the Tower last week there were so many of them. And don't they get cold in those outfits?"

She laughed. "I couldn't begin to tell you. Tony finally agreed to let security deal with it, though, so they should clear out. I see the fascination, though. I mean, you guys saved the world, saved countless lives, stood firm in the face of a freaking alien invasion, and-"

She blushed, looking down at her feet, tensing as her head caught up with her mouth. Her blush deepened as she continued somewhat weakly, "Etcetera, etcetera."

Studying her, I asked, "You still believe in us, don't you? I mean, you've seen us at the shittiest part of our lives in this past month and you still believe in us?"

She smiled brilliantly, brown eyes shining. "Of course I do."

Warmth spread out through my chest, relaxing the tired, tense muscles and the aching feeling in my gut. It had been so long since someone had made me feel like it was ok to feel less than perfect. Like I was allowed to feel sad and confused and lost, and all the while like I was cared about and believed in.

Without letting myself think about it, I bent forward and kissed her cheek, softly. 

She didn't comment, only ducked her head down a bit, blushing.

I turned back towards the city, breathing a little easier now.

Ava murmured into the setting sun, "You're a hero, Steven. And I still believe in heroes."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For a look at Ava's outfit for this and other chapters, as well as other stuff concerning this series, including the character backstories of my Original Characters, check me out on Tumblr as countessklair and click the tag Venger Fam Legacy link in the sidebar. Search my Tumblr for the tag VFL CAS to find only the Character Aesthetic Sheets, some including backstories. Also, please check out my friends kinofthetrees and missunderstoodxoxo on Tumblr! They're awesome!


	3. I Still Believe in Heroes: Bruce Banner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> I'm sorry this is a day late, I got distracted yesterday. If possible, to make up for it, I'll try to upload chapter four on Wednesday next week instead of Thursday.

**Chapter 3: I Still Believe in Heroes: Bruce Banner** ****  
**Bruce POV** **  
** **10 May, 2013**

I was having a bad day.

And the worst part was, I couldn't even blame it on anyone or any one thing, just lots of little things going wrong one after another after another that kept piling up on top of one another.

I woke up late, spilled tea on my favorite shirt, snapped my stupid new Stark phone in two, and DUMEE accidentally whacked me on the back of the head. Twice.

By lunch, I was wound tighter than a drum.

I might have also been a little high strung out of concern for Clint, who was working himself to the bone trying to forget Loki and the Chitauri and who was also avoiding all of us like the plague. No one had seen him for two days, and Natasha was stalking all around the Tower like a ballerina murderess, which just put me on the very edge because she was already terrifying and so when she looked like that...

Not to mention Tony was also feeling the stress of Clint being less than ok, and as such was incredibly irritable and therefore much more...Tony.

I had thought I finally got a few moments peace when I heard the soft tread of Ava's shoes on the floor, coming towards me. I did like Ava, really, but today was just not a good day, and I was incapable of any semblance of a good mood.

I turned, weary and nearly furious at the same time, ready to say God knew what.

And Ava, without a word and without raising her gaze to mine, set a cup of Earl Grey, my very favorite tea, in my very favorite mug that I had thought I had lost or Tony had broken, on the table next to me.

I almost wanted to get on my knees and praise God for Ava. 

I looked up at her, trying to force myself to say a word of thanks.

Before I could, one of the machines Tony had been working on before getting distracted and moving on exploded right behind us with a loud  _ BANG _ .

It couldn't even really be classified as an explosion, mostly just a bang and a bit of smoke, but it was just enough to tip me over the brink, tea be damned.

My vision turned grainy and tinged green-black around the edges and the mug fell from my fingers as I started to feel the tell-tale muscle spasms throughout my body. I heard Ava curse and I was instantly terrified. Ava, while she had been around when Tony had talked me down from a Hulk-out once before, had never been around the actual Hulk, and she wasn't a field agent, she wasn't Natasha or Thor, she could get hurt she could-

_________ 

Everything was a sea of green, grey, black, and red. 

Everything was in my way, everything was there to threaten me, to hurt me, but I couldn’t get out of my confinement, though I smashed my fists into the walls again and again they held firm, though I screamed and yelled they did not crumble underneath my onslaught.

But I would not give up until I could break it into a thousand pieces for trying to hold me in.

I would not allow anything to hurt me, anything at all.

_________

At some unidentifiable moment, I did shrink back down. 

I woke up freezing cold on the lab floor, wearing nothing but my ever present shame and the unending gratitude that whatever Tony had built this lab out of seemed to work at keeping me in. I lay on the floor for a moment, waiting for my faculties to return to normal and stop spinning so much. When my vision finally cleared to my regular sight, I sat up and yelped in surprise when I saw Ava sitting cross legged on the floor, playing a game on her phone. She looked fine, even with the silent siren light flashing right on her face.

As I looked around her, I noticed that a few of the machines had been crushed beyond repair, as well as a whole section of Jane’s homemade equipment, which she would be furious about, but the lab doors remained firmly closed and obviously bolted, if extremely scuffed and somewhat concave, and I thanked any entity that was listening for the fact that Tony's Hulk Defense Protocol in the lab was effective. 

I sighed at the doors, trying not to shiver too obviously on the floor. The lab's lockdown was in full effect, which meant Ava and I were stuck, for the time being. We would have to wait until the other Avengers, whoever was closest, came to address the situation and unlock the door.

As I  groaned with the stiffness of my muscles and limbs, I couldn't help but think that we needed to work on protocol for a Hulk Out and definitely improve the response time for a Hulk-out, because Ava was  _ still here _ .

I turned to look directly at her, pointing out awkwardly, "You could have been hurt, why didn't you leave when you had the chance?"

Ava lifted an arm, pointedly not looking south of my face as she stated, "Who else would have saved your glasses and your mug. Besides that, the lockdown is instantaneous. I never would have gotten out of here, except if I had super speed. Which I do not.  I got a scratch on my forearm from falling down, which I do often enough anyway, and I scalded my hand with the tea, which is nothing serious, and I am otherwise unharmed. We're good."

Her right arm had a long gash in it, probably from falling on one of the tools littering the floor of the workshop, or from falling into one of the many machines. The scratch was shallow, but it ran the entire length of her forearm, and it had gotten blood all over her pristine white shirt.

I felt distinctly weirded out, because Ava was calm. 

_ Calm! _

She'd just watched the Hulk bust out of my own skin and rip all my clothes off and probably yell in her face, and if the scuffs on the walls were anything to judge by, try to beat my way free. Natasha, a literal assassin, was scared of the Hulk. So why the fuck wasn't Ava?

Ava glanced up from her phone, eyes sharpening they way they always did when she analyzed our behavior. “You're wondering whether or not I have a death wish.”

“Well, can you blame me?” Honestly I couldn't understand what was going on, my heart started to beat faster as my exhausted mind tried to make  _ some _ sense of the situation. 

Ava put down her phone, her voice easy and soft, “Deep breaths, Bruce, ok? C’mere.”

She turned to rummage in the cabinet beside her and I jerked back, looking wildly between her and my very naked body. 

Ava sat back and slowly lifted her empty hands in a placating manner. “Bruce, I'm just trying to hand you your pants.”

She waited a moment for my acknowledgement, and I managed to give her a jerky nod. She returned to the cabinet and rummaged around in it until she retreated, lifting up a pair of pants and a t-shirt, tossing them towards me and covering her eyes with her hands. 

Her voice was soft but firm as she told me, “I'm not going to sexually assault or harass you, I promise. And I know being around me right now is uncomfortable and I am sorry about that, but we really don't have a choice until someone comes and unlocks the doors.”

I pulled on the clothes rapidly, a million questions running through my mind.

Ava, eyes still covered, asked, amused, “I can hear your mind working all the way over here. Just go ahead, ask me anything you want.”

I asked the first thing that came to my mind. “How did you survive?”

Ava snorted. “Easy. Predator/Prey tactics. I stood as still as possible while Jarvis distracted you into moving to the other wall, then I climbed into the cabinets to hide until you shrunk down.”

I froze, unbelieving. “And I didn't...charge at you? I didn't--”

“Kill me?” Ava’s voice was as even as could be. “Nope. I’m still breathing. I keep telling you, and I think so does Dr. River,” I jolted a little at the mention of my therapist as Ava pressed on, “Your control is getting better, even when Hulk makes an unscheduled type of appearance, which is more than enough proof for you and the team.”

“Proof of what? Exactly?” 

Ava smiled, and I knew that if I could see her eyes right now they’d be glinting with pride. “That I was right. Healthy social interactions are everything a healing body needs.”

I looked away and muttered under my breath, “I don’t need to heal.”

Ava’s voice was clear and just on the edge of sharp. “Yes you do, Bruce. You are not a monster.”

I sat down against the wall, staring down at my hands, a thousand memories filtering through my head. “Yes. I am.”

“Can I open my eyes?”

I made a noncommittal noise, and she dropped her hands and slowly, very slowly, crawled towards me. FInally she was sitting cross legged in front of me, face serious. “Bruce, you are  _ not _ what they say you are. You are  _ not _ a monster.”

“Yes, Ava, I am, why is that so hard to admit?!”

Ava leaned her head down to catch my eyes in her iron gaze. “Fine. You can be a monster. But keep in mind that not all monsters do monstrous things.” She scooted closer to me, holding out her hands. “C’mere. Let’s try something. Hold out your hands.”

I curled my fingers into my skin, pulling away from her, and her voice softened. “Hey, don’t worry. It won’t hurt.”

After a moment, I reached out and placed my hands in hers. She slid her hands up to my wrists, wrapping her fingers around the flesh so her first two fingers pressed gently into my pulse point. 

Softly, she instructed, “Now you do the same, put your fingers on my pulse,” I did as I was told, feeling her pulse through the fragile skin of her wrists. She smiled at me. “Ok. Now, breathe with me, alright? We’re doing a five count breathing pattern and we’ll work our way up to a seven count, ok?”

I nodded, and she smiled a little wider. Something about that smile snapped something in me, something that wanted nothing to do with this unbroken girl, wanted to be as far away from her as possible. Before, I’d always been concerned with ruining her, somehow, the way I did with everything. But now…

Maybe I just wanted to be selfish for a while and have her smile and hold my hand. 

She breathed in and out with me for a good half hour, until my breathing pattern and pulse matched hers exactly, and my head had stopped spinning and the world made more sense. 

Finally, she leaned back, though she kept a hold of my wrists. “Is that better?”

I nodded, almost at a loss for words. 

Ava had just been exposed to the Hulk for the first time, up close and personal. And she wasn’t yelling or screaming or crying or calling me a ‘beast’, she was holding my hand and telling me that it was all gonna be ok. I didn’t understand it.

“Bruce, you ok?” Her voice was calm and concerned. Not concerned for her own safety, but for  _ me _ .

“No,” I gasped. “I don’t understand. A month ago you couldn’t look at me or Natasha or even Thor for that long, you kept flinching every time one of us raised our voice, and now you’re…” 

Helpless, I motioned to our current position, not failing to notice that my hand easily fell back into her gentle grasp.

She snorted, something awkwardly uncomfortable in the set of her shoulders. “I know, it’s trippy, right?”

I shook my head. “It’s a little--”

“Stupid, I know.” She frowned at my objection. “No, no, it is. I mean, most sane people would run away screaming from this job.”

I watched the way she was frowning at our hands, feeling her pulse speed up a bit. “But not you?” After she shook her head, I pressed, “Why? How?”

“Well the ‘How’ is easiest to answer.” Ava sighed, and I noticed her thumbs were rubbing soft circles into my skin as she frowned, focusing on how to phrase what she wanted to say. “After living with the eight of you for a couple weeks, I noticed that you act exactly like the other Shield agents, just with more devastatingly tragic backstories and a deeper need of hugs, which took a really big chunk out of how scary you were.” 

I snorted a little and she smiled. “No, really, I’m serious. I was terrified of you all when I first met you, I mean, you were basically something like Gods to me.”

I pointed at the Star of David tattoo on the inside of her wrist. “Isn’t that kind of-”

She shrugged. “I live in a world of aliens and superheroes, God’s probably fine with it. And I don’t mean ‘Gods’ in the sense that like, you made the world or that people should worship you, but in the way that you're kind of...all powerful and scary and vengeful.” She frowned. “Does that make any sense?”

I cocked my head. “A little. But how did you go from flinching every time Natasha spoke to going shoe shopping with her?”

“Well, first off, she taught me how to walk, fight, and run in six inch heels, which may not be super useful or healthy but is definitely some kind of goals.” I felt my mouth twitch upwards, and Ava continued, “But mostly...I saw you, all of you, for how you really were. Yes, you’re pretty all powerful and scary and vengeful, and I’m not saying this as a negative thing, it just is.” Ava’s grip on me tightened ever so slightly before reverting. “You guys are kind of...broken. You’re superheroes, yes, through and through, but you also really need hugs and therapy and you need each other around because you need a  _ family _ .” 

Ava’s eyes glazed over a bit, her voice softening. “And I…” 

Ava looked down and flushed. “It’s stupid, but I wanted to be that person. I mean, I don’t really know if this makes sense to you, but I feel like, in some stupid way, I’m here for a reason.” She looked back up at me. “If you had all gone your separate ways after the Battle of New York and didn’t contact each other again until you were needed, I don’t think that would be a good thing for any of you. You all  _ need _ each other, because absolutely none of you has an actual support system or any kind of family to help you out, Thor included, and you need that.”

I frowned. “No, I get that, I just don’t understand why you decided you had to be the one to pull us together.”

She sighed, long and deep. “Honestly, it’s kind of a ego trip thing for me. I want to be a part of whatever kind of mess you guys are. You’re loud and crazy and demanding and entirely too smart and too untrusting for your own good, each and every one of you, but dear fucking  _ God, _ ” Ava’s eyes shone, “There’s so much potential in all of you, especially concerning each other. Once you guys have a real, honest breakthrough, once you can see each other as family and not just teammates…”

She smiled. “It’ll be a whole new world, Bruce. A better one.”

“Family hasn’t always worked out for me.”

“Well,” Ava countered, “It only takes once.”

I was silent for a moment, before I asked, “But the Natasha thing, how did you stop being scared of her?”

Grinning widely, Ava answered, “You kind of stop being scared of someone when you see them yelling at their partner for hiding in the roof while playing ‘Hide and Seek’, or seeing them fall asleep in a puppy pile while watching HGTV at two in the afternoon.”

I snorted. Natasha, Darcy, and Steve would gather in the Den to watch HGTV for hours on end, and honestly it was pretty humanizing.

Ava finished, “I guess I just saw you, all of you, in a different light one day, and now I can’t unsee it.”

I couldn't understand why she wasn't acting like she was afraid of me, the way any normal person would be, the way every other person whom I had ever Hulked out on acted.

So I asked. “You’re not afraid of the Hulk?”

Ava tilted her head for a moment, considering. Finally, she responded thoughtfully, "I do have a general fear of people stronger than me, and I am a little afraid of the Hulk because of it, but I trust you, and that means I trust him. I know how you feel about the Hulk and you’re working on that with Dr. River, so we’re not gonna get into that, but the point is, the Hulk’s a different part of you, and I could never be scared of you. You're my hero, both of you are. I still believe in heroes."

I was silent, finally. I didn’t have anything else to say to that. Even though I did have thoughts, that maybe I should have shared with her.

I didn't tell her that her unwavering belief and trust in me meant almost as much or more than any of the treasured memories of my life Pre-Hulk, was more precious to me than any of the glitzy things Tony owned, and worth more to me than all the R&D toys money could buy. 

But by the look on her face, I was pretty sure she already knew.

**\----------------------------------------**

**Ava POV**

I slid into the stool at the bar, flagging down Weasel. "Beer and a shot of something, please."

He nodded and started to move away when he saw the bandage poking out of the sleeve of my arm, and he froze. "What is that, who did it, and where are they?"

A few of the nearby mercs looked over curiously, and Weasel stomped closer to me, motioning for my arm. 

I rolled my eyes, trying to play it off. "It's nothing, I dropped a chemical in the lab-"

"You know every time you lie to me your ears twitch?" Weasel motioned again for my arm.

I frowned, holding my arm out. He pulled my sleeve back, his voice high as a kite when he said, "That's a big fucking cut, who did it and where are they?!"

I yanked my arm back, scowling, "You don't have to be so overprotective you know, I can take care of myself."

Weasel glared, "I get a bonus at the end of the year if you're still alive, and Reddy scares me way way more than you do. Spill."

I raised my eyebrows. "Alcohol first."

His eyes narrowed at me for a moment before, in a series of quick movements, he shoved a beer and a shot of Tequila at me. "Ok, now spill."

I tossed back the shot. "I met the Hulk."

The entire bar erupted into noise, Weasel putting his head between his hands and muttering, "You're gonna die, oh my god, you're gonna die and then the boys are gonna have me drawn and quartered, they're gonna have me deep fried and slathered in butter, oh my  _ god _ , you're gonna get killed and then I'm gonna die a horrible death."

I took a sip of my beer, calling over the cacophony of voices, "Thanks for the vote of confidence."

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For a look at Ava's outfit for this and other chapters, as well as other stuff concerning this series, including the character backstories of my Original Characters, check me out on Tumblr as countessklair and click the tag Venger Fam Legacy link in the sidebar. Search my Tumblr for the tag VFL CAS to find only the Character Aesthetic Sheets, some including backstories. Also, please check out my friends kinofthetrees and missunderstoodxoxo on Tumblr! They're awesome!


	4. I Still Believe in Heroes: Clint Barton

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for being patient, It took way too long for this chapter to come out. If you want to see the layout of Ava's room, or anything else concerned with this fic, you can find it on my Tumblr countessklair under the tag Venger Fam Legacy. Please go check it out!

**Chapter 4: I Still Believe in Heroes: Clint Barton** ****  
**Ava POV** **  
** **11 May, 2013**

“Ava, Jane can’t find her doomawhatsit, you know, the little octagon one with the clothes hanger antenna and the drawing of Luke Skywalker on the side, do you know where it is?” Darcy’s voice remained calm as could be even as I heard Jane’s science-screaming growing louder in the background.

“Umm, maybe, where have you looked?” I elbowed my way into my room, concentrating mostly on trying to not drop any of my bags from my recent incursion into Home Goods.

“Well,” Darcy said, “The only place it would be is in the main lab, you know Jane refuses to work with the Stark geeks. And Jane has pretty much, uh...”

A loud crash came from the other side of the call.

With barely a pause, Darcy chirped, “She’s pretty much destroyed the place looking for it.”

I set down my bags on the living room floor of my room, frowning at the walls. “Well, um, let me think. The one with the Luke drawing, uhh-”

Steve poked his head in, carrying my new vanity in one hand like it weighed five pounds instead of the more likely seventy. “Hey, where do you want this?”

I waved my hand at the empty space in the room. “Just set it down for now, please, there's a crisis.”

"Aves who’re you talking to?”

“Steve, he went with me to Home Goods.”

Darcy’s voice brightened. “Oh, hey, you got him to go out in public without wearing the Spangly Spuds or the giant frisbee, nice!”

I rolled my eyes. “Darcy, focus, the doomawhatsit octagon box with the Luke drawing.”

“Right. She said she was working on her ERB theory last night, and-”

I stopped her cold. “Whoa, wait, she wasn’t supposed to be working last night. I sent her to bed after you went to go have your pamper night."

Darcy went silent for a moment. "You did?"

I nodded. "Yeah! She’d been up since dawn. Three days ago!”

Sighing loudly, Darcy decided, “Shit, then she had to have taken it to work in one of the other labs. And I'm never gonna find it with her in Super Crazy Asshole Mode.”

Another crash came through the line. “Jarvis is gonna have to order us a new coffee maker.”

Jane’s voice, tinny from distance, yelled, “I know it’s got to be here, one of those dickheads had to have hidden it!”

Only somewhat jokingly, I asked, “Why is it the geniuses can never remember where they put their things when they need them?”

Darcy snorted. “Their brains are too full with numbers and words and they never sleep so it never recharges. I've got an idea on how to get her to go to bed."

"You do?"

"Yeah, where’s that sedative gun Bruce made last-oh! Found it!”

“Darcy, that was made for the Hulk, not Jane. It probably won’t even break skin.” I bit my lip over the desire to break the levity and immediately gave in, “No I can’t joke about this, put the sedative gun down, ok, I'm on my way, just Darcy, please don’t go anywhere near her with that thing, I’ll be right down and help you out, please don’t scare her.”

Steve snorted behind me, and I looked at him to see he was covering his mouth and trying not to laugh.

I stuck my tongue out at him.

“Don’t worry, mom,” I wrinkled my nose at Darcy’s playful jab and ignored the warmth returning to my fingers as she continued, “ I’m not gonna use it on her, I’m just gonna wave it around some. It’ll at least look threatening. I’ll put her to bed with guilt and threats.” Darcy sing songed, “My mom’s classic bedtime story.”

“Hey, you know it too?” I laughed, “Are you sure you don’t want help?”

“Nah, I took the night off last night, and it’s just Jane. I’ll call if I need you, but for now, just get back to work.”

“Alright, good luck.”

Darcy hung up and I put my phone down, and as I gathered up by bags to toss them into my bedroom I chuckled, “There's never going to be a boring day in the Tower, is there?”

Steve smiled, his blue eyes sparkling. “Not to my way of thinking.”

I tossed the bags into my bedroom and turned back around to direct Steve with the vanity box when I saw a strange look crossing his face.

“What?”

He shuffled his feet, his eyes flickering between my own and the floor. “There’s something I want to talk to you about.”

I shoved down the feeling of uneasiness rising in my gut and raised an eyebrow. “Is this an, ‘I’m worried about your spending habits’ talk or a ‘be less assertive to the Science Squad’ talk?”

“Neither,” Steve’s face eased a bit, “To be honest I don’t think either of those conversations will ever be necessary.”

“Ok, then what kind of talk is it?”

Steve frowned and bit his lip, and I did not let my gaze linger on the plush curve of his mouth, instead firmly watching his eyes as he gathered his thoughts.

“I wanted to just, uh, I wanted to ask if, um, I think, that is, that…” He sighed sharply. “Don’t take this the wrong way, but I want to train you.”

I wasn't really following his line of thought. “To be what? Cause I’m sure as hell not Avenger material.”

Flinging out a hand, Steve nodded briskly, “I agree! Oh!" A hot blush rose on his cheeks and he stammered, "That's, that's not a bad thing! You're just not Avenger material like you said. Not that you’re not important to the team! Because, you know, you are, but um, you know you just...you just…”

Holding up my hands, I smirked, “Steve, don’t overthink this, what do you want to train me for?”

“Well,” Steve pushed a hand through his hair, shuffling his feet again, “I want to train you in self-defense. And I also want you to train with Nat, and maybe Thor too.”

He stepped closer, a grim look crossing his face. “Look, it’s not that we think you’re weak, because we don’t, and we know that you went through basic training with SHIELD, but you’re in a different position now, and I don’t want to scare you, but-”

“I’m in way more danger now than I was before, I know.” I huffed at Steve’s unconvinced look. “Steve. I am Psychological Operations. It’s my literal job to dissect the pros and cons of choices and look at strategical advantage and disadvantage. It’s my job to know absolutely everything about what each course of action will entail. I knew going into this that it’d put a target on my back to be around you guys.”

“And you still chose to do it anyway?” His eyes were unreadable. “You’re not a soldier.”

“I'm a SHIELD Agent. Or intern. And I was raised by soldiers.” I flapped a hand. “But that’s neither here nor there. I thought, by taking the job, maybe I could do some good by you all, so I took the job. Because Director Fury’s threats aside, I would have been fine without SHIELD, but I wanted this.”

I crossed my arms over my chest, looking down at my feet and scoffing, “Don't get me wrong, I was terrified, at first, which I'm sure you picked up on." The corners of his mouth lifted, his expression brightening somewhat, and I continued, "And to be honest I still am a little scared, but I did and still do want to do this job. I mean, hello, look at my room! I have a bathroom worthy of Cleopatra, a walk-in closet that's bigger than the entirety of my first apartment, and a view of the Manhattan skyline that most people don’t get even if they’re a CEO of a Fortune 500 company.”

I looked back up at him. “Plus, you know, the company is pretty good.”

He smiled, and I rolled my eyes and failed to keep an answering smile off of my own face. “I guess what I’m saying is that even though I know this job means being a more public part of the fight against evil, and being friendly with any one of you will put a target on my back for any and all villains to notice and take advantage of,” I shrugged, trying to play off how much working with them meant to me. “I feel like it’s worth it.”

“I’m uh, I’m glad. That you feel that way. About the job.” Steve’s eyes were so blue. “And about us too, I guess.”

I only nodded back at him, aware that I was still blushing.

We were silent for a minute, and I fiddled with the skin over my wrist tattoo, and did not let myself analyze think about the way Steve had said that.

Finally, I cleared my throat and asked, “So, um, so when did you want to start?”

He shrugged, easy as could be, leaning up against the wall. “We could start right now as far as I’m concerned.”

I raised an eyebrow. “Did you see this outfit? No way am I getting this all sweaty. And besides, I have to unpack all this stuff and then go down to the lab and help Darcy with Jane.”

Thoroughly amused, Steve asked, “Didn’t Darcy say that she didn’t need your help?”

“She did and she doesn’t need my help but she’s gonna get it.”

Eyes glinting, Steve opened his mouth and started to say something when Jarvis's voice came into the room. “I’m so sorry to interrupt, Miss Walker and Captain Rogers, but Miss Walker asked me to inform her when I located Mr. Barton.”

The smile immediately fell off my face. “You found him?”

“Yes, Miss Walker. He’s in the basement gym reserved for the Avengers.”

I closed my eyes briefly to take a deep breath before snapping them open. “Ok, thank you, Jarvis. Could you please call Natasha and tell her what you just told me?”

“Yes, Miss.”

“Perfect, thank you.”

I moved toward the door when Steve stepped in front of me. “Whoa, where are you going?”

“I’m gonna go assess the situation and see what, if anything, I can do.”

Steve frowned heavily at me. “He’s really not in his right-”

I glared at him, snapping, “Do not let the next word out of your mouth rhyme with rind, Rogers. Have some faith in your team, and furthermore, have some faith in me. I'm not gonna do anything stupid, I promise. I'm just gonna do my job.”

I pushed past him and out the door.

\------------------------------

**Clint POV**

Sweat poured off of my body as my fists slammed into the training dummy in front of me again, and again, and again, and again.

I'd been training for hours. Since I gave up on tracking down the last few stragglers who’d helped Loki, _and you, you helped him too,_ and came down to the Tower's gym. And though my body screamed in agony, still I pushed myself.

Part of me was trying to block it all out, to forget that any of it happened, while another part of me kept re-living every time I loosed an arrow at a Shield Agent, kept seeing the arrows piercing flesh over and over and over again.

God, I hated it all.

I hated that I was here, trying to pretend to be some sort of hero, like I was anything but beneath the rest of them, like I was worth anything after what I'd done. I wasn't good enough to be working alongside these people, alongside Captain _fr_ _eaking_ America, I wasn't strong enough, Loki had proved that. I had blood on my hands that I could never wash off. The blood of men and women who trusted me, who had followed me. Who had looked up to me. Who I had _betrayed_.

_Killer killer killer killer killer **killer**._

I couldn't escape from it, not when I was awake and even less when I finally drifted into sleep. Every time I fell asleep, I saw and felt it all again, saw and felt things much worse,  bones breaking beneath my hands and blood seeping through my fingers to stain my skin, and when I looked at the body at my feet, it was Natasha every. Single. Time.

_Killer killer killer killer killer **killer**._

Natasha, who was my partner, my right hand, my goddamn other fucking half. The one person I'd ever truly trusted at SHIELD other than Phil Coulson.

_Killer killer killer killer killer **killer**._

And I'd tried to kill Phil and Natasha both, even if Phil had only been incidental. Phil still being alive was a miracle, too great of one that I still couldn't trust to not be a figment of my imagination. And when I'd attacked Natasha like she was a stranger, like she was just another target...

_Killer killer killer killer killer **killer**._

I didn't know why she hadn't just killed me.

She should have just killed me.

 _She should have just killed me_.

_She should have just killed me._

_Why hadn’t she just fucking **killed me?**_

I attacked the training dummy with new vigor, trying so hard to both ignore and drown in the hatred and anger and pain from my abused body. I wasn't sure what was sweat on my face and what was tears. I could have killed Natasha, almost did. What would I have done if I had awoken to find that I'd murdered the only thing that I'd ever done right, the only thing that made the worst days of my life bearable, all because I was too weak to fight off some cockroach's influence, when I was supposed to be immune to being brainwashed.

_Killer killer killer killer killer killer **killer killer killer killer KILLER KILLER.**_

With one feral blow, the dummy's weakened head flew off of its body.

I stopped moving.

I stood there, trying and failing to pull sufficient air into my deprived lungs, my entire body shaking. My knees quivered, and before I could stop myself, they gave out from underneath me and I toppled over onto my side on the padded exercise mat.

I lay there, gasping for breath, closed my eyes and let the tears come.

I was a failure. I'd killed men and women that had respected me, trusted me. I'd failed them. I'd failed Natasha. In my line of work, I couldn't afford to be anything but perfect, and I could never afford to be weak, but that's what I was.

I didn't hear anything over the roaring of my pulse in my ears, so I startled violently when a cool hand was placed soothingly on my forehead, I was so exhausted I could barely lift my arms up to try and ward off what could be a potential enemy, because those were not Natasha's hands.

I forced my eyes open to see that it was Ava crouching above me, and when she noticed my eyes on her she asked in a voice too soft, "Are you ok?"

I grunted, unable to muster enough energy for any other kind of response.

Her mouth thinned out, and she grouched under her breath, "You are obviously _not_ ok," and hooked her arms under my armpits, lifting me from behind with a grunt as she dragged me over to a wall.

I leaned on it gratefully as she continued, "Hey Clint, good to see you again."

I grunted again, the only acknowledgment I could give until I caught my breath.

She ran a dizzyingly cool hand over my forehead again and handed me a water bottle, which I immediately upended into my mouth, then she calmly started to asses my body for injuries in a practiced manner. She must have done this before then, and not just once or twice. I wondered who she knew that was always getting into fights.

I looked away from where she was studying the bruising on my forearm and noticed she was wearing a bandage on her forearm and hand, a long swath of pure white gauze that wrapped around the skin there.

As I stared at it, she answered the unasked question, "Bruce had a little mishap in the lab yesterday. I'm under the impression it was just a bad day that got really, really bad. When he was, uh, Hulking-Out, he accidentally knocked me into a machine with some pointy parts."

I shook my head and managed to breathe out, "Not his fault. Can't control."

She nodded. "I know, I know. I told him it's not a big deal, because it really isn't. I mean, I'm fine, no one got hurt, and it's not like Tony can't afford to fix the damages. Besides, Bruce's just been under a lot of stress lately, just like everyone else."

I stared at her, a new panic in my head distracting me from my sins, and I silently demanded to know what was going on with my team.

“Oh come on, you’re a superspy. You _know_ why they’re upset.” She said very quietly, "They're worried about you, Clint. I mean, all of you are dealing with some sort of psychological trauma or another, but it's easier to deal with when you guys do it together, because then you don’t have to also worry about whatever the person who’s pulling the Lone Wolf crap is doing.”

She smiled like it was just that easy. “Trust me, I majored in this in college, among other things. You all went through a lot two months ago, and you went through it together so like it or not, you're family now. And this family of yours doesn't do well with its members disappearing into thin air to beat themselves up over things they had no control over."

Her eyes were softer than I could stand. "You're not a bad person, Clint. I know...I know you don’t...I know you feel _sick_ with grief over this, but none of what happened is your fault. Loki is to blame, none of the things he used you for are on your hands, they are all on his."

I closed my eyes again, more tears falling as a sob tore free of my chest. I wanted to believe her, desperately, but I couldn't bear to believe it.

She put a hand on the back of my neck, fingers rubbing gentle, small circles into the skin, while she shushed me and murmured, "Please, Clint. You're not the bad guy here, even if it feels like that right now. Everyone in this Tower cares about you, and the whole team is here for you, and me too, if you need it."

I didn't respond, unable to swallow the idea she presented.

_Killer killer killer killer killer **killer**._

The door opened again, and this time I recognized the footsteps approaching as Natasha's.

I doubted that anyone who knew her less than I did would be able to tell that anything was wrong as she stalked over towards us. But because I did know her as well as I did, I could see that she was worried and tired and maybe a little scared. Which made me feel worse. I never wanted to be the cause for her fear, for any reason. Ava moved back and Natasha crouched in her place.

As low in volume as I could manage, I asked hoarsely in Spanish, "Lo siento Natasha, lo siento. Por favor perdóname." _I’m sorry Natasha, I’m sorry. Please forgive me._

We used different languages for different interactions. We argued in German, spoke in French during sex, plotted in Arabic, and used English for most of the rest of what we had to say to each other. We never spoke Russian with the other unless it was for an op, and the few times we ever apologized to each other, we did it in Spanish.

Her expression cleared slightly, and she answered just as softly, "Si." _Yes._

Ava smiled and stood. "Well, you're in good hands now. I have to get back to work, it's Tony's bedtime, and he and Jane are holed up in one of the labs still."

She touched Nat gently on the shoulder as she passed her and whispered something to her that I couldn't quite make out. Whatever it was, it made Nat smile.

Ava paused when she reached the door, then turned and said, "You're a hero, Clint. And I still believe in heroes." And with a smile, she was gone.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For a look at Ava's outfit for this and other chapters, as well as other stuff concerning this series, including the character backstories of my Original Characters, check me out on Tumblr as countessklair and click the tag Venger Fam Legacy link in the sidebar. Search my Tumblr for the tag VFL CAS to find only the Character Aesthetic Sheets, some including backstories. Also, please check out my friends kinofthetrees and missunderstoodxoxo on Tumblr! They're awesome!


	5. Caught Unawares

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> This is so long, it's not even funny. So that's your reward (?) for sticking it out this long waiting for this chapter! Chapter six will be up soon, I hope.

**Chapter 5: Caught Unawares** ****  
**Ava POV** **  
** **19 June, 2013**

I rolled my eyes as high as they would go, biting the inside of my cheek to keep the vicious stream of Hebrew from coming out of my mouth.

Tony had that effect on people.

Bruce, biting his lower lip, tried to appease us both. “Look, maybe we should just flip a coin?”

I bit the inside of my cheek harder, reminding myself that Bruce needed to keep his heartrate down and that he was only trying to help, and that I just needed some sleep, that’s all this was.

Well, I couldn’t sleep when every four minutes a loud crash could be heard even through the sound proofed walls of my bedroom, and knowing that Tony and Jane and Bruce had _directly defied my orders to go to fucking bed._

I turned on Bruce. “Why should we flip a coin when you all three know I’m right?! You’ve been up for over fifty hours that _I_ know of! Jane’s in the middle of a psychotic breakdown, look!”

I pointed viciously at Jane, who was sprawled on the floor, eyes blank as she murmured in Latin and repeatedly drew ‘E=MC2’ on the surface of the floor near her with her permanent marker. I counted four pencils stuck in her hair and two band aids that had been used as a makeshift hair tie.

Bruce was so exhausted that he was slumped at a sixty degree angle over his desk, his glasses missing and what looked like parts of a welder stuck to his lab coat.

And poor Darcy was curled up beneath Jane’s desk, oblivious to the chaos surrounding her, either sleeping or dead, for all i knew.

(She wasn’t dead, she was breathing, but my point still stood.)

As I stood there, fuming, someone beeped into the lab. “Ok, I’m-”

I spun around, glaring, only for my mouth to drop open. Standing in the doorway with a sincerely unimpressed look in his eyes and a heavy sigh coming from what looked like deep inside him, was Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes, the Iron Patriot. The most incredible soldier , other than my mother, I'd ever read action reports on, and the first openly gay black soldier to reach a status higher than Major.

 _That_ Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes.

And lord almighty was he a sight in that uniform.

Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes glanced around the smouldering remains of the machines in the room. “Tony, I am not doing this again, I thought you got assigned a babysitter to take care of this shit?”

And just like that most of my awe flew out the window, the burning, chest clenching sensation of indignation sweeping through my upper body instead. “He _was_ assigned a babysitter, and I’d like to think that despite how impossibly, bafflingly difficult he is I’m pretty good at it, but I refuse to be responsible for the idiotic use of subpar chemicals in place of _well known chemical compounds_ simply for the sake of _science_!”

Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes raised an eyebrow at me. “He’s gotten to the stage where he’s just trying to piss you off, hasn’t he?”

“Yes, sir!” I huffed and crossed my arms over my chest.

Tony shoved past me, wild eyed. “I am _not_ at Stage Seven, Rhodey, I called you to help me with a pest problem.”

“ _Pest problem?!_ You-” Bruce’s high whine of discomfort interrupted me, and I bit my lower lip, glaring as hard as I could at the center of Tony’s oil and coffee stained t-shirt.

Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes sighed harder. “Tony, really, I-”

“She’s trying to stop me from making the discovery of the century!” Tony flung his arms out wide at his pile of smouldering remains and myself.

“All I’m trying to do is get you to survive!” I spat at him.

Tony turned back to me, positively jittering with the amount of caffeine in his system. “I’ve been through worse than this before, Ava! I survived a nuclear bomb, I was in captivity for three months working around the clock and surrounded by terrorists, I-wait are you crying?”

I blinked away the sudden wetness in my eyes. “Yes!”

Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes hopped up on a lab table, murmuring, “Ooh, this is gonna be good.”

Bruce straightened up, wringing his hands together. “Oh noooo.”

Jane looked up at me, some awareness coming back into her face.

Darcy snored gently.

Tony held his hands out awkwardly, tension entering his whole body. “Why, why are you, why are you doing that, the crying thing?”

I furiously wiped away the errant tears on my cheeks and tried not to let my voice waver as I answered, “Because it’s seven o’clock at night and I haven’t slept in forty eight hours, I keep getting jarred back awake every four minutes because you keep blowing something up in here, which means you didn’t listen to me when I told you you needed to sleep, all three of you, and it’s my job to take care of you and you’re not letting me and that sucks on a whole host of levels for everyone here, but then you started talking about what you’ve been through in your life and I started thinking about it and it’s really sad and so now I’m crying because you need to sleep instead of being put in life threatening situations, that’s why!”

I bit my lower lip, demanding it not to tremble and my shoulders to stop shaking.

I was just really tired and emotionally vulnerable, that was all this was. Or that was what I told myself. Somewhere in the back of my head, Competent!Ava was rocking back and forth and thinking about how much I was going to regret saying anything in the morning.

Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes whistled low. “Those are good reasons.”

Bruce sighed. “They are.”

Tony flung his hands around, his hair sticking up impossibly high. “Well what do you want me to do? This could potentially be the answer to installing clean energy across the world, but we can’t find the missing component anywhere, which is why we kept working when you said to go to bed.”

“I’m glad you took that deal with Habitat for Humanity, I am, but I also told you that your brains need to reset in order to be in proper working condition, otherwise you’ll be here until next week and you still won’t have an answer because instead of using your stupid brilliant brain the way it’s supposed to work you worked it until it’s absolutely no good at all and you’re mixing up phosphorus chlorate with common sodium compounds!”

Tony fell silent as he looked over at his ash covered desk. “Oh. Oops.”

Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes clicked his tongue. “Got him on the ropes, Miss Walker.”

Bruce, completely folded over on the table, cheek pressed to the metal, offered, “Maybe she’s right.”

With a soft, incomprehensible groan, Jane pulled herself over to Darcy, curled up around her, tucked her face into Darcy’s neck and immediately began snoring.

I sighed deeply, aware of the ridiculousness of the situation. “I know what I’m talking about, Tony. Please just go to sleep. Ok?”

He rolled his eyes, but I caught the brief flash of chagrin before he did so. “Whatever.”

Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes grinned brightly at him. “You heard the lady. To bed with you!”

Tony startled and looked around. His exhausted gaze found the Lieutenant Colonel and he frowned. “Oh, hey Rhodey. When did you get here?”

Bruce sighed. “Ok, yeah, point taken. We need to sleep.”

As Jane began to snore, Jarvis asked primly, “Shall I have Master Thor fetch Dr. Foster and Miss Darcy?”

\------------------------------

 **Ava POV** **  
** **20 June, 2013**

I yawned widely as I walked into the main kitchen. Technically, all ‘living area’ floors had a fully stocked kitchen, but everyone congregated in the one on Tony and Pepper’s floor, which seemed sweet, and it kind of was.

But mostly everyone went there because that’s where the fancy coffee machine was.

There was a small spread of toast, cereal makings, and fruit on the table, but what made me want to smile was Jane and Darcy.

Jane and Darcy were slumped together on the dining room table, Jane laying almost completely in Thor’s lap as he calmly read the paper and stroked his thumb across Jane’s head. I ducked forward to peck the top of her head and his cheek, to which Thor chuckled gently, murmuring, “Good morrow to you as well.”

I looked over at Darcy and waved at her and Bruce, trying not to laugh. Darcy had her head pillowed on one arm, the other curled protectively around an obscenely large mug of steaming coffee. I watched as Bruce, who was sitting next to her and sipping his tea, glanced too long at her hair, which lay close to his free hand.

I smiled softly as his fingers twitched towards her. He pulled back as she roused, drank a large gulp of coffee, and resumed her original position.

Happy was standing in the kitchen with Pepper, chatting as they fixed their breakfasts.

Pepper saw me and smiled. “Hey, Ava. Sleep well?”

I snorted. “I don’t even remember sleeping, to be honest. I fell into bed around seven thirty and in the blink of an eye, it was almost eleven whole hours later. How about you two?”

Happy shrugged, smiling slyly. “Not too bad.”

I jolted as I remembered what Happy had been doing the night before. “Oh, that’s right, how’d it go with Taylor?”

He smiled a little wider. “This is my fourth cup of coffee this morning, and my first cup from anywhere in the Tower.”

I clapped my hands softly, not wanting to disturb the sleepy ones at the table. “That’s awesome!”

Pepper handed me a mug, eyes bright with mischief. “He’s very proud of himself.”

Nodding firmly, Happy sipped from his mug. “As well I should be, Taylor’s pretty awesome.”

I selected the ‘Ava’ option on the coffee machine, thanking God for modern technology allowing everyone their own perfect cup of coffee.

Jarvis, voice lowered so as not to wake the dozing people on the table, greeted, “Good morning, Miss Ava. Miss Natasha asked me to inform you that herself and Master Barton were called into headquarters last night, and to not expect them back for a few days.”

I sighed. “All right, thank you Jarvis.”

Frowning at me, Happy asked, “What’s with the sad face?”

“Nat promised to show me where Clint hides in the Tower so I could beat him at hide and seek next week.”

Pepper chuckled into her mug, “Sounds like Nat. Oh, by the way, I noticed Tony actually went to sleep last night. Fell directly into bed and went immediately to sleep. What did you do?”

A hot flush burned a path from my chest up to the tips of my ears. “Oh, um-”

“She cried and pointed out that he was being a self destructive idiot.”

I spun around to find Lieutenant Colonel James Rhodes once again in a place I didn’t expect him.

Pepper swung forward and hugged him warmly, and Happy performed a complicated handshake with him.

Grinning, Happy asked, “And you’d know because?”

“Eh, he called around noon yesterday saying he needed me to help him with a seriously serious problem.” Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes rolled his eyes. “I figured I should come and see what was up. Hope you don’t mind I crashed here last night, I sold my place in New York when I transferred to DC.”

Pepper elegantly waved the comment away, “You know very well you’re welcome here anytime, Rhodey. Oh, by the way, Ava, this is-”

I snapped a salute at a taken aback Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes. “Lieutenant Colonel Rhodes.”

He grinned at me. “Just Rhodey is fine, Miss Ava. Really. The people I take salutes from are only the ones in uniform on a tarmac.”

I grinned. “Of course, sir.”

Rolling his eyes again, he insisted, “Rhodey, Miss Ava.”

“Then call me Ava, and we’re good.”

“Fine by me.” He tilted his head at me. “Were those real or crocodile tears last night?”

I flushed again. “Real.”

“Wow, really?”

I shrugged and focused on my coffee. “I get, um, emotionally vulnerable when I’m really tired. It either goes two ways, really sad or really angry. Last night was a rare show of both.”

Rhodey chuckled. “Well I got to hand it to you, you’ve only been here three months and you’ve got how to handle him locked down tight.”

I smiled. “Well, one of my majors _is_ psychology, so I’m pretty good at reading people.”

Pepper’s watch beeped, and she frowned. “Ugh, we have to leave for the airport.” She rolled her eyes at me. “That idiot board member Mr. Rochester called an emergency meeting at our China facility yesterday.”

As Happy drained the last of his coffee he griped, “That guy’s not even in charge of that division.”

Pepper poured her coffee into a travel mug and asked Rhodey, “Do you need to borrow a jet to get back to DC?”

He shook his head. “Nah, I took a couple days off. You mind if I stay here?”

“By all means, Rhodey. You can help Ava keep all eyes on Tony. He’s really set on this new project.”

As the two of them left, I waved and called after them, “Go kick ass and take names!”

From her prone position on the table Darcy called out, “Burn down the building!”

Bruce chuckled softly at her.

Rhodey pressed a few buttons on the coffee machine, and while it was brewing asked me, “So are you former or current military?”

I shrugged. “I’m an intern at Shield, I did some bomb disposal work for them a few times and technically I’m ‘field qualified’, but mainly I’m Psy-Ops.”

He stepped back a bit, clearly not expecting that. “Wow. Psy-Ops. Certainly not what I expected from the girl with the bunny slippers.”

I sniffed primly at him. “They were on sale and they’re really comfy.”

Rhodey pulled his coffee mug out of the machine and led me over to the table.

Thor nodded at the both of us over the top of his newspaper, eyeing Rhodey curiously, but immediately softening when Jane murmured something and pushed herself closer into his body.

Bruce wiggled his fingers in greeting, and after Rhodey’s reciprication, I watched Bruce place his hand directly onto Darcy’s hair.

Darcy smiled into her arm, and did not pull away.

I pulled over some toast and the butter while Rhodey poured himself some cereal.

Nonchalantly he asked, “So did Shield teach you to salute like that? I didn’t think they were into that sort of thing.”

I remembered that before Weapons Development, James Rhodes had been known for affiliation with Black Ops. Rieker had a few stories about him. And either way, as a soldier he’d want to know as much as he could about the person living with three of the most important people in his life; Happy, Pepper, and most importantly Tony.

“My parents, actually. They were Marines.”

He hummed softly. “Hoo-rah.”

I side-eyed him. “You’re in the Air Force.”

He groaned loudly. “Oh please don’t tell me you buy into that whole rivalry crap.”

I shrugged. “Navy beat you out twenty eight points to ten this year.”

“That was so obviously a fluke!”

“Can’t argue with the final score, sir.”

Steve stumbled into the room, jolting up straight when he saw Rhodey. He snapped to attention. “Sir.”

Rhodey sighed heavily. “I should’ve come by sooner to get this part over with. Will you quit it with the salute thing, Rogers? I haven’t even had breakfast yet.”

“What happened to ‘Captain America never earned his Captaincy and if I ever met him I’d tell him so’, huh Rhodey?” Tony dodged the apple thrown at his face after his entering comment, but only barely.

Turning back to Steve, Rhodey tilted his head. “It is true though. Not trying to start anything, but did you even complete basic training?”

Steve laughed. “No, can’t say I did.”

Rhodey’s eyes lit up and he jabbed a finger at Steve, proclaiming victoriously, “I _knew_ it!”

\-----

“Look, face it, you’re having a case of group brain fry.” Darcy patted Tony’s shoulder where he was standing and glaring at his blueprints. “Strange phenomena indeed, especially for this group.”

Jane, Bruce and I still stared darkly at our own holographic screens.

It wasn’t that we didn’t have our own projects to work on, the looming threat of my thesis needing work still haunted my steps every minute I was in a lab, but when Tony was stumped on a problem, it meant all hands on deck. (It worked like that in everyone’s case, but Tony’s problem was the most current. And often, the most dangerous in terms of temper tantrums.)

Tony scrubbed his hands over his head. “I don’t _get it_. I did everything right! I even went to sleep last night like you told me to!”

I shushed him. “Don’t even try to blame this on me right now, Stark, I did my job and you know the answer to this.”

He pouted for a second, glaring back at his screen. “But I repaired all the equations and the math still doesn’t check out.”

Jane tapped her screen. “What about the chemical components? Mine says it’s still got that stupid sodium jammed in there.” She zoomed in on a particular part of the formula. “Oh. Duh. You didn’t replace the sodium with phosphorus chlorate.”

She tapped the screen again and instead of the soft red glow of an error message appearing over the formula, once again signifying that we had gotten it wrong, this time a soft chime sounded.

Jarvis announced, “Formula accepted.”

We cheered loudly, and Darcy ran over to the scoreboard. “That is one more point for the girls and minus one point for the boys!”

“Darcy, that’s not fair.”

Darcy rolled her eyes. “Fine, Ava, I’ll give the boys back their point.”

She stepped back from the ‘Science Squad’ scoreboard, a large post it note stuck to the bulletin board on the right of the doors. “We’ve still got a huge lead over them.”

Tony sneered, “Six points is not huge.”

“It is when the lowest score is still four points after a _month_!”

Tony and Bruce both gasped at Jane’s (true but slightly cruel) accusation.

Jane winced. “Sorry, Bruce, I didn’t mean it that way. We adore you and we’d love to have you on the Girls team anytime.” She turned to Tony and jabbed her finger in his face with a loud, “HA!”

Tony blew a loud raspberry in her direction, and Bruce outright laughed at them both.

I raised my hands and called out, “Ok, ok, let’s focus here. First, we fixed the problem and Tony can send it right off to the Habitat for Humanity people for immediate implementation.”

Tony smirked at Bruce, “Say immediate implementation five times fast.”

“Second,” I looked over at Darcy, who perked right up. “This is a cause for celebration.”

Darcy began bouncing slightly. “Are you saying what I think you’re saying?”

I nodded seriously. “Oh yes I am.”

Darcy started bouncing more intensely. “Are you saying we are going to enact Group Activity Fun Day?!”

“Oh hell _yes_ I am!” Darcy raced over to high five me and grab my hands to start jumping up and down with me.

She leaned her head back and yelled, “Get in the car, losers, we’re going to Coney Island!”

Bruce’s eyes were locked onto Darcy, and Jane seemed not too unaffected by Darcy’s happiness, a small smile on her face.

Tony waved his hands. “Wait, right now?”

Darcy and I paused in our jumping.

“Well,” I amended, “No. Not right now, right now. But first thing Saturday, hell yeah! Science Squad will assemble in the garage at six hundred hours!”

Tony wrinkled his nose, though he didn’t stop the soft, pleased smile from stretching across his mouth. “Fine. Whatever.”

Bruce frowned briefly. “I mean, it sounds good, it does, but um.”

I held out a hand. “Bruce, it’s not mandatory. And you don’t have to spend the whole day in the thick of the Boardwalk. You can sit on the beach with your noise cancelling headphones.”

He perked up. “Well.”

Darcy leaned in towards him, eyes sparkling, and I watched the small but sharp intake of breath he took as she did so. “If it’ll make you feel better I could hang around and make sure no one bothers you.”

His eyes didn’t leave hers. “That sounds, that is, um, that, that sounds like I could, like I could do that.”

Darcy smiled brilliantly, and Bruce’s answering smile was instantaneous.

Jane caught my gaze over Darcy’s back and raised her eyebrows. I could almost hear her saying, ‘ _He isn’t gonna last long at all, is he?’_

Tony rolled his eyes, but didn’t say anything, and I could have sworn I saw the barest hint of a smile.

\------------------------------

 **Ava POV** **  
** **22 June, 2013**

I looked around at the assembled group in the garage, where Darcy and Jane were arguing over whether or not Jane was allowed to play any carnival games; Darcy reminding Jane of ‘that time last summer where you burned down that balloon dart stand’ and Jane reminding Darcy that ‘it was a total and complete accident and would never happen again unless the proprietor was a dick’, while Bruce watched somewhat avidly, his noise cancelling headphones settled around his neck.

I checked my phone. “Jarvis, is Tony awake?”

“Yes, Miss Ava. He is on his way downstairs now.”

“Oh, good. Did he really reserve parking spaces near the Boardwalk?”

Jarvis seemed almost amused. “There is no limit to what money and a prominent name can buy in this country, Miss Ava.”

Jane hissed something nasty under her breath about that, and Darcy laughed.

Jarvis agreed, “Quite so, Dr. Foster.”

The doors to the garage opened, and out stepped Tony and Rhodey.

I smiled at Rhodey. “Good morning to you. Headed back to DC?”

He snorted. “With Saturday traffic? I’d rather throw myself into the Hudson.”

Shuddering, I winced. “Point taken.”

Tony put his arm around Rhodey. “I convinced Rhodey to come with us and have some fun. I figured if you’re gonna stick around, you two ought to know each other.”

I raised an eyebrow. “You do realize that now that we’re both around your habit of endangering yourself just got cut in half?”

Bruce frowned. “Not eliminated?”

Rhodey sighed. “You can’t eliminate it. You just can’t. Cutting it in half is a feat of impossibility.” He looked over at me and grinned. “Until now, cause now I’ve got a helper and an in-house spy.”

I wanted to jerk back from the phrasing, but I kept my face calm and high fived Rhodey.

Tony showily grabbed his chest. “Oh no. What have I done?”

Sticking my tongue out at him, I preened, “Deal with it, Stark.”

Tony handed the keys over to Jane, and Darcy immediately snatched them up. “Oh no you don’t. Last time you _touched_ the wheel of a car we ran over the Norse God of Thunder and I tased him into a hospital. We don’t have time to do that again today. I’m driving.”

Darcy turned to Bruce and batted her eyelashes. “Why don’t you play navigator?”

Bruce smiled easily. “Ok.”

I didn’t fail to notice the small surprise cross over Rhodey’s face, then the way Tony made a small noise in the back of his throat and the look dropped completely off of Rhodey’s face.

Darcy clicked the button on the key fob and one of the SUV’s beeped. “Ugh, we’re taking the mom car?”

Tony rolled his eyes. “There’s six people, and I only wanna take one car. We can’t exactly take the convertible.”

As we walked over Darcy asked, “Could you invent a clean energy car that seats seven _and_ is a convertible?”

As we all climbed in, Tony hummed, “Well, maybe.”

Once we were all settled, Darcy and Bruce up in front and Darcy chattering about something to do with her college days, Jane and Tony in the middle arguing over the validity of String Theory, and Rhodey in the back with me.

With a small grin, Rhodey glanced up and down at me. “What kind of outfit do you call that? Fourth of July chic?”

“Of course not.” I tossed my hair over my shoulder. “Misplaced American Pride Day chic.”

“Oh so it’s like that, is it?” He shook his head, feigning dismay. “They turn on you so fast. What would your parents say? Proud members of the Corps?”

I looked down at my nails and inspected the flawless polish. “Well they don’t say much of anything these days.” Rhodey’s eyes widened a little in understanding. I continued easily, “But I think they’d roll their eyes and tell me it was bad enough I got the tattoo.”

“I didn’t know.”

I scoffed softly. “Why would you know? Anyway, it was a long time ago. And they were pretty supportive of the ‘choose what you believe’ approach to life.”

Rhodey nodded thoughtfully. “So the tattoo is a big deal? Why?”

I tilted my wrist out to him, showing him the Star of David inked there. “I’m Jewish. My mom was Jewish, and one of the men in her squad, who helped raise me, Leroy Rieker,” I watched a small flicker of recognition pass over Rhodey’s face. “He was Jewish. I got it after my eighteenth birthday on a whim. To tell you the truth, I was wasted and in Harlem at three AM.”

Rhodey winced. “Not a good combination.”

Shaking my head, I laughed. “No, it is _not_ . Rieker _freaked_ when he saw it. Said I could never get buried properly. He pouted for weeks about it.” I looked down at the black star and traced it with my finger, smiling softly. “I think he might just be jealous though.”

Darcy laughed from the driver's seat, and Bruce joined her, his eyes locked onto her and his body leaning slightly towards her.

Rhodey asked quietly, “Is that a good idea?”

I shrugged. “Darcy took down a God of Thunder. I think she can handle a Hulk.”

Rhodey grinned, impressed. “She took down Thor?”

As Darcy laughed again, I grinned back. “Ask her about it sometime, but do it whenever Thor’s around. He gets so overcome with pride for her he cries, sometimes.”

He laughed.

I glanced over at him, to where his gaze flickered back over to Tony for the tenth time that I had caught.

“You were in DC during the Battle of New York, weren’t you?”

Rhodey nodded slowly, not looking at me.

I thought about the tension in Gabe’s shoulders when I’d seen him after the Battle, the way Harvey had said, “We were worried about you.”

I knew what it was like to know someone you loved was fighting for their life. I knew what it was like to not get to say goodbye.

And yeah, Tony had survived a nuclear blast and going into total free fall from thirty thousand feet up in the air while unconscious with a failing arc reactor, but he and everyone else was still dealing with the fallout. That included Rhodey, Pepper, and Happy.

Trying to keep my voice level and unthreatening, I ran my fingers over the hem of my shorts. “You came up here knowing it wasn’t a ‘real’ emergency, but a part of you was worried that it was.”

Rhodey locked eyes with me, sighing. “You’re Psy-Ops all right.”

I scoffed. “Please, that’s just stuff I learned Freshman year.”

He leaned back a little, away from where Tony and Jane’s argument had grown a little softer. “I just wanted to get a feel for the situation.”

I shrugged. “Well, he’s actually going to therapy now, since Fury threw down that gauntlet, and Pepper says he’s still having nightmares, but she seems to think they’re getting better.”

“Actually I was talking about you.”

I snapped my head over to look at him. “Me?”

He nodded. “Yeah. I mean, sure, I had some stuff going on in the back of my head on the way down here, but I was looking for a way to meet you and feel you out.” He grinned at me. “Tony told me all about you, how you make him eat regularly, how you make him talk to Pepper about things other than the company, how you make him bathe regularly, which by the way, amazing job, truly spectacular, and how you show up to work in his filthy lab in actual ‘real people’ clothes and not his standard ‘greasy mechanic’ look he’s favored the past thirty years.”

Turning my head slightly away I primly dusted imaginary lint off my sleeve. “I wear a lab coat and I keep my clothing nice. I have this thing against wearing oil as a fashion statement.”

“Well, I come down expecting this six foot tall, iron fisted, steely eyed blonde with brass knuckles permanently attached to her hands, and I find a five foot two blonde with a southern accent and bunny slippers who cries when she gets too tired because she cares too much.”

He waved away my protests at his characterization, smiling widely. “The point is, you’re not what I expected at all. Which is actually a good thing.”

I snorted. “Well. I mean, don’t get me wrong, I was still raised by Marines, and I do own a pair of brass knuckles, but that side of me isn’t for family.”

Rhodey’s eyes sharpened. “So they’re family to you?”

My heart stuttered a bit. “Um.” I looked out the window at the crushing traffic around us, feeling all too aware of my behavior the past three days.

Because, shit.

Fuck.

They were like family.

It had only been three months, what the fuck, Ava.

I mean, I had accepted going into this that I was gonna do what I always did and get too attached too quickly, I did know myself and my habits after all, and a small part of me had known accepting the ‘promotion’ from Director Fury would lead to a one sided attachment. Because, hello, no gods ever really cared about the mortals around them. I knew that, I did.

I knew it.

But three months was a scary timeframe to feel like a group of people should be counted as family. Maybe not in the sense that Dante, Gabe, Rieker and Harvey were family because they’d been family since I was six, but still.

Fuck.

EIther unaware or ignoring my internal monologue of freaking out, Rhodey leaned back, easy as could be. “Not a bad thing. I mean, from my point of view it’s a good thing, actually. You’re not in it to be an in house spy for anyone.”

“Oh, please.” I rolled my eyes. “I know that seems like the logical conclusion to make, and I may be Psy-Ops, but I’m not a spy. Especially not on America’s best and brightest superheroes.”

Smiling slightly, Rhodey pointed out, “Doesn’t mean it wasn’t offered to you.”

I shrugged. “It was. They know that, even if we haven’t talked about it. I still turned it down.”

“Yeah,” Rhodey murmured. “I think you did.”

In front of me, Tony let loose a wild stream of obscenities at something he was reading on his phone, holding the device out to Jane, who joined him in whatever he was upset at.

I watched the morning light glint off of the Iron Man deployment bracelet on Tony’s wrist, that despite being obsolete now, he had yet to take off. Gods lived with mortals, but they did not truly love them. Something I’d read in my Greek Mythology class first semester Freshman year, and why was that the class I remembered most from Harvard?

We were silent for a while, and I listened to Jane and Tony destroy the credibility of a scientist they both disliked, while Darcy regaled Bruce with tales of Asgard.

Finally, Rhodey murmured. “Leroy Rieker. Now that is a name I haven’t heard in awhile. Sniper, right? Blonde, big family history in the military?”

Unwilling to stop the warm smile on my face, I said as fondly as I could, “That’s him. He said he met you a few times. Didn’t say where or how, legal issues and plausible deniability and all that, but he holds you in the highest regard.”

“Huh. I always remembered him as a jackass.”

I let loose a loud laugh, clapping my hand over my mouth. “Sorry. Um, actually yeah. Big jackass. Can’t keep his foot out of his mouth to save his life.”

Rhodey agreed, “Sweet kid, though.”

I glanced sideways at him. “He says you’re a good kisser, too.”

Rhodey’s mouth dropped open.

I beamed at him. “And _that_ is why I’m in Psy-Ops.”

“Well fuck.”

\-----

Tony was the first one out of the car, stretching his limbs out showily and giving off loud and certainly unnecessary moaning noises while ignoring the groans of irritation from the rest of us. “Well! Today holds many wonders for us all. So off we go!”

Jane folded her arms across her chest. “Who put him in charge?”

“I paid for gas.” Tony spun around. “Actually, I pay your salary, too.”

Jane glanced down at her nails. “Eh. Maybe.”

“What do you mean maybe? DId you get another offer?”

Darcy, digging through her beach bag for something, snorted. “Try five.”

Tony looked dumbstruck. “What?”

Jane rolled her eyes. “Relax, butthead, I’m not gonna take any of them. No one else has your coffee machine. Darcy would go nuts and kill me in my sleep.”

Darcy looked up. “It’s true.”

Amused, Rhodey asked, “You wouldn’t stay in the Tower if she left, just for the coffee machine?”

Sighing dramatically, Darcy pulled a water bottle from the depths of her bag. “My loyalty to Jane outweighs my need for quality caffeine. Why do you think I stayed with her in New Mexico after Thor left? We had bonded.”

Jane wrinkled her nose. “She’s attached to me like a leech.”

Opening the cap of the water bottle, Darcy flicked some water at Jane. “You’d last two days, maximum, without me.”

“Outrageous. I’d last four. I’d last five if Ava came with me.”

I held up my hands. “Sorry, I’m strictly Bruce’s assistant.”

“Aves, honey, you know very well you do assistant work for all three of them.” Darcy winked at me as I stuck my tongue out at her comment.

A small group of onlookers had paused to stare and I stepped forward to pull the group along. “C’mon guys, let's go get some actual fun done today.”

Darcy reached over towards Bruce, waiting patiently until he gave a short nod and she wrapped gentle fingers around his elbow. “You can put on your headphones anytime you want. Just text me if you want anything. Beach time?”

With his free hand, Bruce settled his headphones over his ears, his shoulders instantly easing completely and he smiled a little crookedly at her. “Ok.”

After they were out of earshot, Jane held up a hand. “Ten bucks says they’re dating by next week.”

Scoffing, Tony objected, “Another ten says it’ll take until next year.”

Rolling his eyes, Rhodey asked, “Can we just go in now? I’d like to stuff a corn dog in my face please.”

“I second that motion. Away, Iron Patriot!” With that, Tony hopped up on Rhodey’s back, and with nothing more than a surprised laugh, Rhodey ran the both of them into the thick of the early crowd on the Boardwalk.

Jane held out her arm to me, and I linked mine through hers, letting her lead me into the crowd.

Tossing her hair back, she asked, “How long do you think it’ll take?”

“Well,” I considered, “I’ll say a month. A year is way too long, but by next week is pushing it.”

With her free hand, Jane pointed at a game booth. “Oooh, that looks-”

“Not if you’re gonna blow it up, Jane.”

\-----

Five hours later, Jane and I had ended up playing a few game booths, the slender scientist somehow winning not one not two but _four_ large stuffed figures. We sat at a picnic table sipping lemonade surrounded by four Disney Princesses.

Jane adjusted Rapunzel’s cloth braid. “This was so entirely worth it.”

I snatched a falling Belle from sandy doom. “What are you gonna do with them?”

Jane pointed at each of them in turn. “Rapunzel is going to my niece in California, Mulan and Tiana are going to the New York City Children’s Hospital, and Belle is going to Darcy.”

Jane grinned. “She has the entire script for that movie memorized.”

A shadow passed over the table and we both looked up to see Tony and Rhodey grinning ear to ear.

“Guys, you’ve _got_ to try some of the rides.” Tony’s eyes were shining. “They’re incredible!”

Jane motioned to the stuffed figures. “What about the princesses? I can’t just leave them all alone.”

Tony looked down at them. “Why are there four? I did the math, and you should have only had time to win two.”

Jane smirked. “I’m really good at carnival games.”

“Like, really good.” I remembered the game booth operators continually greying face as Jane had kept playing, the small roar of a supportive crowd behind her.

Rhodey held up a souvenir shirt. “I want to put this in the car for safekeeping. Wanna walk with me?”

Jane shrugged. “Ok. But when we come back, I’m picking the first ride. It’s gonna be the Tornado.”

Rhodey held up his hands. “Fine by me.”

Perking up and grinning, Jane gathered up all of the princesses and the two of them wandered back into the push of the crowd.

Tony plopped down beside me, a large grin still on his face. “Roller coaster time.”

I clutched my lemonade a little tighter. “I’m not really a roller coaster type of person.”

“Are you scared of roller coasters?”

I huffed. “No.”

Tony raised an eyebrow. “Be honest.”

“I’m not scared of roller coasters!”

Tony’s expression dulled, obviously not believing me.

I looked down at my lemonade. “I’m just a little, a _little_ , mind you, scared of heights.”

“Oh.”

Tony picked at the wood of the picnic table. “Well we don’t have to.”

I sighed. “It’s not like a big fear, it’s just i get really, kind of like, really clingy. On them.”

“Clingy?” Tony frowned at me. “What does that mean?”

“Well, the last time I went on a roller coaster was here, on the Cyclone, with my Uncle Dante.” I opened the lip of my lemonade cup. “I squeezed his hand so hard I cracked a couple of the bones.”

“You _what_?” Tony burst into laughter. “You, Miss ‘Calm and Collected’ herself, nearly broke his hand?!”

I smacked his shoulder. “I was thirteen! Shut up!”

Tony only continued laughing, so I rolled my eyes and fished out a piece of ice. With a deft movement I hooked my finger in his shirt collar and dropped the ice cube down his back.

He yelped sharply and jumped up to shake the ice free while I laughed at him.

Sitting back down, his smile still firmly affixed to his face, he said, “Ok, well, to be fair, the Cyclone isn’t really a the kind of ride you’d take a thirteen year old on if she’s got a fear of heights.”

I reached for my lemonade cup again and Tony amended quickly, “A small fear, a small one, like really really small!”

I put the cup back. “Ok, then what would you recommend going on?”

Tony looked around, his eyes landing on the Ferris Wheel. Grinning, he pointed at it. “That. That is what I would recommend.”

“Isn’t the Ferris Wheel kind of, tame? For you?” I cocked an eyebrow at him.

Tony shrugged. “Wouldn’t know, I’ve never been on one.”

My mouth dropped open. “Then what the fuck are we sitting here for? Let’s go!”

I hopped up, dropping my empty lemonade cup in the trash can and reaching for Tony’s hand with my free one.

He grinned at me. “This is gonna be really anticlimactic.”

Twenty minutes later, we clambered into one of the carriages, the metal gate creaking shut with a clang. A flutter of anxiety swept up my spine and hung low and heavy like lead in my stomach.

Glancing over at me, Tony sighed dramatically and held out his hand. “If you break it, you buy it.”

“You sure? I’ve started boxing since I was thirteen.”

“Whatever.”

He kept his gaze away from mine, but I did not miss the easy way he wrapped his fingers around mine.

The Ferris Wheel eeked forward about ten feet, coming to another standstill for another carriage to be emptied and refilled.

“So you and Rhodey had an interesting conversation on the way here.”

I felt the anxiety in my stomach get heavier.  I kept my voice light when I asked,“What do you mean?”

“Don’t play the pretty dumb blonde, Ava.” Tony glanced down at me. “He and I tell each other everything.”

“Everything?” Part of me had wondered if Rhodey had known about the Iron Man suit before anyone else.

Tony’s face was completely serious. “Everything.” The light played off the silver of the Iron man deployment bracelet. “He thinks you’re alright, firstly, and secondly he thinks you have a better sense of fashion than I do, which is horribly untrue-”

“Says the man who spends sixty percent of his time wearing a collection of sawdust, solder materials, and enough engine oil to put BP to shame.”

Tony huffed, “That was one time, and I _fell_ in it, you _saw_.”

I laughed.

Tony shook his head and rolled his eyes, but let a small grin onto his face.

After a moment he caught my gaze. “You know, I honestly didn’t expect you to even show up at the Tower. I thought you’d tell Fury where to shove his ‘promotion’,” Tony used his free hand to make sarcastic air quotes, “And then escape off into the world.”

I didn’t let myself think about it as I said, “I’ve come to far to just drop this and leave.” When Tony raised his eyebrows at me, non-verbally asking me to continue, I sighed and complied. “Well, I’d put too much effort into working for Shield to just give up. Plus, I still had to finish out the semester.”

I hummed dreamily. “You would not believe how many college credit hours I am getting with this internship.” I gently elbowed him. “Plus, working with Tony Stark, Bruce Banner, and _Jane fucking Foster_? The woman who singularly discovered the existence of aliens? Totally priceless, no matter how irritating the three of you are.”

Tony put his hand to his chest. “Aw. You do love us.”

I rolled my eyes and shoved at him. But I didn’t deny it.

Peering out over the edge of the carriage, Tony said, “Well, looks like we’re almost all the way up.”

I followed his gaze, a rush of cold icy lead weight fear spiralling low in my stomach again, because we were really high up now.

“Ow.”

I loosened my grip on Tony’s hand. “Sorry.”

Something caught Tony’s gaze and he pointed out at the beach. “Hey look, I think that’s Bruce and Darcy!”

I scoffed. “Please, not even Clint could see that far.”

“Let me have this.”

I lifted my free hand in surrender. “Alright, ok. What do you think they’re doing?”

“Gazing longingly into each other's eyes, Darcy flipping her hair and laughing like this.” Tony flamboyantly tossed imaginary hair over his shoulder, rolled his eyes high and _tittered_. “Oh, you’re so funny Bruce!”

I screwed my face up. “That is so not what they’re doing.”

“Ok, Sherlock.” His eyes lit up a bit. “You tell me what they’re doing.”

“Obviously,” I sighed, “They’re sitting there on the beach, Bruce has his headphones and can’t hear anything and has his eyes fixed on Darcy and is thinking about how pretty she is, while Darcy is sitting there singing obnoxiously aloud to Broadway show tunes playing from her phone and posing _just so_ so the light constantly catches her hair the right way, while she thinks about how pretty Bruce is when he’s smiling like a dork.”

Tony whistled. “Ok, I’ll admit, that is much more likely.” He looked around. “Ok, then what are Jane and Rhodey doing?”

I considered it or a moment. “Jane and Rhodey are...probably in line for their second or third roller coaster now, and both of them have unofficially made it a competition to see who throws up first after continuously riding roller coasters.” I smiled at the thought of Jane’s determined face. “Smart money’s on Jane.”

“Um,” Tony interrupted, “Rhodey was a fighter pilot. He flew tiny one man planes fifty thousand feet up in the air and dove into death defying stunts to save thousands of millions.”

“Jane has travelled through a wormhole. Twice. Once to get to Asgard and once to get back.”

Tony froze. “Oh. Shit. Rhodey doesn’t even know what he’s getting into.”

He turned to me, somewhat stricken. “Should we text him and warn him? Just to even out the playing field?”

We had reached the bottom of the Ferris Wheel again and the uninterested worker opened the gate back up. “Please be careful when exiting the carriage.”

Tony motioned towards the exit. “After you, Ava the All Knowing.”

I rolled my eyes heavily and climbed out. “Please tell me that name isn’t sticking.”

Tony scoffed as he hopped out. “No. You wanna get funnel cakes and go see if Rhodey and Jane are still alive after riding six roller coasters in a row?”

I smiled at him. “Yeah.”

\-----

That night, as our exhausted group practically fell back into the Tower, Jarvis greeted us with a cheerful, “Good evening, all. I trust you enjoyed your day at Coney Island?”

Jane, slightly pink with sunburn, gave him a thumbs up. “I return victorious, Jarvis, with the prizes of slaughter at the game of Balloon Darts.”

Darcy wrinkled her nose, grinning. “You’ve been spending way too much time with Thor. You’re starting to talk like him.”

“Darcy shut the fuck up.”

“There’s my recalcitrant astrophysicist.”

Steve wandered out from the den, rubbing at his eyes, obviously roused from a nap. “Hey, how was it?”

Rhodey, nearly dead on his feet, groaned, “Never ride roller coasters with Jane. Her stomach is made of steel.”

Laughing, I contradicted, “I don’t know if you can say that if she lasted _maybe_ two minutes longer than you did.”

Steve grinned. “Yeah, the roller coaster at Coney Island are killer.”

Tony clapped a hand to Steve’s shoulder. “I’ve got to take you to better places, man.”

Natasha appeared from around the corner, looking no worse for the wear, and something tense I’d been holding in my shoulders the past few days relaxed. Beaming, I rushed forward. “Nat, you’re back!”

She grinned back at me and hugged me, the soft smell of her shampoo wafting into my nose.

“Got back a few hours ago. Clint is devastated you went to Coney Island without him.” She leaned back to sigh dramatically. “He’s in the ceiling, pouting.”

Without fail, Clint’s voice filtered through the ceiling tiles as he whined, “NAT!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> For a look at Ava's outfit for this and other chapters, as well as other stuff concerning this series, including the character backstories of my Original Characters, check me out on Tumblr as countessklair and click the tag Venger Fam Legacy link in the sidebar. Search my Tumblr for the tag VFL CAS to find only the Character Aesthetic Sheets, some including backstories. Also, please check out my friends kinofthetrees and missunderstoodxoxo on Tumblr! They're awesome!


End file.
